Voyager- Ash (Part 2)

SO .... the paddle is done and the secrets out ! Sarah said yes and the paddle was part of my engagement plan! Sarah and i have recently just bought a house when we were talking about some of the idea we wanted around the house to make it personalized. She brought my attention to this headboard idea. I didn't really want to make a whole bunch of paddles that would never see water and take forever to make,  so instead she requested paddles that would show special dates to us. First Kiss, First house, engaged and etc. 

I decided to make her a paddle (that can be seen in part one of this post) and to surprise her lake side with a ring. I took her down to the cabin by the lake and told her we needed to go check out a fishing spot. We have the only land on the lake the rest is crown so its a nice spot ! We carried the canoe out of its hiding spot and put it in the water. I then told her i had finally made her a canoe paddle. I had place the paddle further so she would have to walk to it allow me to be behind her, as she was pulling the paddle sock off i got onto one knee behind her. She was very surprised and excited ! Once she calmed down a little i gave her my little speech and pulled out the ring. She said yes ! (even with the beard on me ) I could not be happier !

The paddles art is a mix of wood burning and a lil black paint ! It was the right size and all !

With the move coming up i will not be able to get to any of my paddle making stuff but i figure it was a good one to hold me over. 

Thank for reading,

Paul

Canoeing the Credit River

Hey,

Got a chance to go out on a test run down the credit river for a group we're going to have at work soon ! What an awesome day for it too the sun was out and it was nice and warm.

We started at McNab park in Norval and canoed all the way down to Streetsville Memorial Park. It took us about 4 hours and we only had to get out and walk the canoes a few times.

Dont take a paddle you like !

Awesome run down the credit !

Voyager- Ash (Part 1)

Rough blank edges need sanding

Hey Everyone,

So i have been working on stuff.  Its just been at a slower pace, because life gotten busy. I have been working on a Voyager paddle made of Ash. Ash is very strong but a little on the heavy side.

With each paddle i've been making , i'm constantly trying to improve on my skill. For this one i am really trying to make it as light as possible but still getting a perfect balance of strength and lightweight.  I just dont want push to far and create a paddle that will snap under pressure. I am also trying to develops that small ridge in the centre of the blade where the shaft meets the blade. I dont have a convexed spokeshave, so i may use a dowel and sand paper to get that look.

Ridge in the neck of the blade

I also wanted to really take my time with this paddle, its easy when you start to see them take shape to skip a few details or cut corners. Its those thing though that tend to make them extremely special and to skip them takes away from the details.

I also have started to speed up shaping the grip by using the bandsaw to remove large amount of wood at once. I typically use a rasp and spokeshave to do the grip.  With power tools though you can ruin all your work and the paddle with the smallest slip. Its a bit of a risk but if you pay careful attention it can save a decent amount of time, then a little work with hand tools and your done.

Current state starting to look good 

I have a few ideas on the art work and finishing but not sure which one is best. I also was thinking about putting a resin tip on this one. Even though Ash is hard, i like the ability to push off rocks and such without concern of ruin the paddle or wood.

Thanks for reading and as soon as i kick this nasty cold/ flu/ whatever i have, ill get back o work on it !

Paul

Cutting board !

Best layout

Hi all !

Sarah and I recent bought a house, so I thought I would take a few scraps of wood that have been laying around and make a cutting board .

Pre Oil

I used hard maple , walnut , curly maple and paduk . There hardwoods so that the knife won't ruin them to bad . I've been told wood cutting boards aren't the best because of salmonella, but I just wanted a small project .

I lined it all up so that I had the patten that looked the best . I think this turned out pretty good . I then planned the edges so that they would fit together well, without any gaps .

I glued them all using some good glue and clamped all the wood together.

I then planned all the wood down to an even thickness . I rounded the corners with the disc sander and took the edges off so they were just slightly rounded .

Finished product 

I took some badgers hemp oil ( food grade) and covered the board . I did a few layer and that the cutting board !

Super easy project just wish I had a better saw for ripping stock wood . Then I could have made it into a checkerboard pattern.

Thanks for reading !

Paul