Cedar- Beavertail ... Birch Bark (Part 2)

Here is part 2 of my Cedar paddle. The concept was something i came up with after seeing people painting paddle shaft funky colours,  and thought to myself if i was to paint the shaft what would i put on it. My favorite tree has always been a birch and i thought that it would be amazing to make a series of paddles and to paint the shafts like the bark of the wood being used. With that in mind i went to buy a bit more wood and of course they were out of birch so i change to cedar, added a sweet Canadian leaf and made the what i call the ultimate Canadian paddle. 

Took quiet a few coats of white, and the i let the brush slide across the grain so that it would be that rough black patches you see on a birch. Its not identical to the trees bark its more cartoon looking, that being said i'm extremely happy with how it turned out! It needs a finish  by Tuesday which is when i plan to test it out, have a canoeing group at work. 

Finished paddle

Concept

As for the Pyrography work i wanted something different from your standard original maple leaf, after i bit of browsing on the net i found something like the one on it but with a few changes .

Hope you enjoy, because I'm very proud of this one.

As normal thanks for reading, 

Paul

Cedar- Beavertail ... Birch Bark

Hey everyone ,

Still here ! Sorry for the disappearance.

If the formats weird it's because I'm posting from an iPhone so I'll fix it later when I'm home.

I started the cool painted shaft paddle I was talking about earlier in this blog. It's a my first time working with cedar. Few things you remember quick when working with this wood.... How good it smells, how light it is and how easy it is to "dent" it . when I was craving it I left the whole thing a little thicker in the shaft to make it a bit strong. Cedars soft and light wood. I'm a bit worries I'll get out on the water and snap it if I thin it down to much.

I also added an epoxy tip to the paddle . I use the same method as Mark shows on his blog found here.

I shaped the shaft, thinned the blade down much more then the original blank. If you add the tip to the original blank then thin it down, its just a lot of wasted epoxy. To add the tip ensure you have the shape or the blade you want . Then make a horse shoe with the play dough or soft magic mold (this is what I used) press the paddle in and pull it out . Mark the amount you want the tip to be the remove that amount of wood. When u place the paddle back in there should be a perfect gap for the epoxy to fill and will be what the tip looks like .

When you mixing the epoxy someone told me to add filler so i went to my shop vac and got some sawdust to add. I used a quick 5 min epoxy and mixed it then added the dust until a watery mayo consistency. Then I scooped it into the gap and because it's " watery " , it should fill it just right.

Be sure there is no air bubbles in the epoxy. You can also add a price of rope into the tip to make stronger ( Marks suggestion) , I could wait and there was no good rope around .

Then peel the play dough off and start shaping your paddle !

Think I covered everything so far.

Thanks for reading and now I'm off to the cottage to go canoe and get some fishing in !

Happy Victoria day weekend

Paul