I had a chance to go to the Outdoor Adventure Show this weekend and picked up a few thing. My favorite thing bought was a crooked knife from Canadian outdoor equipment . The crooked knife is the traditional woodworking tool of the First nations and Inuit . Its like a one handed draw knife that is used in one hand as you hold the paddle with the other hand.
I also picked up Badgers paddle and Gunnel Oil which is 100% All Natural Hemp Oil that has no harsh fumes and is even food safe. I'm excited to finish the next paddle with this finish and possible even a cutting board which i plan to glue together some extra pieces together to make one.
Lastly i bought a piece of Elk antler (sold as a dog chew) from Urban Dog Products. I am not sure if i should use this one of the knife blades i had from before or if i should save it and make a crooked knife of my own. It does have a very nice feel in the hand, so either choice it will be pretty good. When i was at the booth the guys told me someone had bought a piece to be the tip of a paddle, which i thought would be interesting.
Thanks for reading
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Paul,
ReplyDeleteHope you have fun with your new toys. We bought an Elk antler for our dog to chew on, they are hard and it has lasted a long time compared to other dog chews. If you are thinking about using the antler as a protective tip for a paddle let me know how it works out. Be careful though, I'm not sure about elk antler but the white tail antler I used in the handle of my Mora belt knife (http://www.wildpaddler.ca/2011/08/mora-belt-knife.html) is quite porous. I was concerned that it may not stand up to heavy use but I'm hoping that saturating the pieces with epoxy will effectively stabilize the porous inner part of the antler making them more durable. Reindeer antler is very dense and would provide great protection on a paddle tip.
Thanks for sharing
I don't think i will be making a paddle tip out of it, for the exact reason you said. My worries are that the the inside it to porous. There are some potential ways try it but i don't think its something I'm going to be trying soon. I will however be trying a resin tip using the method you show in your blog when you made Zoes white water paddle, very smart method by the way. Back to the antler piece, it will most likely become some sort of knife. After seeing your post on the mora knife, i went out and bought the blades. I had planed to use a rack from a small buck that was taken this year by a friend, but the butcher forgot to keep the little rack. It may take a bit of time though , as i have a few project in the go.
ReplyDeleteGreat knife by the way ! Hope mine turns out as nice.
Paul
When you add the resin tip to the paddle you may want to continue up the sides a bit. I should have done this with Zoe's whitewater paddle. The edges of the blade, above the resin tip, have become very badly worn from abuse on rocks. One of my projects this year is to refurbish the paddle. This time I'm going to wrap the resin tip almost all the way up the sides of the blade. I'm also going to embed a nylon cord in the resin to give it extra strength and abrasion resistance. The paddle gets used hard and these modifications should make it bomb proof.
ReplyDeleteMark
I plan to go about half way up the blade (its not going to be a white water), thoughts? The nylon cord is a great idea, will make the resin stretch a bit more ! Thanks for that tip
ReplyDeleteI've got one of those crooked knives as well - although design-wise they are closer to Farrier's knives for working on horse hoofs. I've used mine irregularly since purchasing...it does work but the curvature of the blade takes out large "divots" rather than precise shavings. Best for shaping the grip. I've seen people modify these knives but cutting out a spot for the thumb,etc like on this page. You might end up with more fun results by making your own flat bladed knife from a file or something.
ReplyDeleteHey Murat,
ReplyDeleteWhen i bought it he had mentioned that its commonly used by farriers for horse hoofs. The price was just so cheap i couldn't pass it up. I really would like to create a spine on the paddles of mine because i love the look, think it would it help of that ? Rather then spend the time modifying it, I'll just put the time into making some like yours. I have a few old files up at the cabin.
Thanks,
Paul