Thread: A Simple Pair of Seven-Foot Oars

After cutting out with the saber saw, I square and fair the edges with hand planes and spoke shave. You’ll always see two planes in my pics…the #3 is set coarser than the #4, which is set for a very fine shaving and is used in finishing. A #5 is used ILO the #3 for longer oars. Oars are best cut on a band saw, but you don’t really need one…just remember that the least precise your saw, the farther you should cut outside your lines…especially on curves…to be finished square to the line with hand tools with no unpleasant surprises when you turn the stock over and discover where your blade wandered.



I then use the cut and faired stock as a pattern for its mate.



The side profile or taper pattern is applied and marked on both sides of each rough oar…



…and the power jointer set up to machine the tapers. Set the unplugged jointer to take a 16th, then index the oar against the cutter head where the penciled taper first shows a 16th on the blade side of the loom. Make a tick mark on each oar indexed against the edge of the jointer fence as your starting point.



Turn the jointer on, open the guard using a push block held in your right hand and align the tick mark on the oar with the fence edge using your left. Then lower the oar face onto the cutter head gently with a forward motion, and push it through bearing down with the push block in your right hand.



Repeat using that 16th distance between pencil line and oar face each time, and you can taper the faces in about 8 passes per face so cleanly that they need no further work with the hand plane. Do a few dry runs, first, of course…. as machines can’t hear you cry.



I make an 8-Siding Gage, (8-Siding Gage ) lay out my tapered, square looms into octagons for planing….



…and rough out all the bevels with draw knife before finishing them with the plane and spoke shave. Very fast and efficient…but practice both using the drawknife in all 4 of its modes and reading grain before committing expensive stock to it. (The Drawknife)


Continued…

I finish the beveling with planes and spoke shave. I prefer to face plane the blades first to their penciled tapers as laid out by the 8-Siding Gage, followed by spokeshaving the transition to its lines…



…leaving the looms for last. My final planing is a light swipe with the #4 to remove any remaining pencil lines. The oar button and leather will be 30 inches from the end of the handle, and I make an abrupt transition there from 8 sides to 16 sides and finally to an oval using spokeshave alone all the way to the transition. I prefer my loom ends to remain 8-sided…I wouldn’t want my oars confused with something done in a factory.



I’m careful to stay on the outside edge of my lines when beveling…and the end result is a more pleasing (and stronger) 5-7-5 ratio than a true octagon. The left oar has been drawknived but not planed…note that I rough out the handles beforehand so a slip won’t take too large a chunk in that critical area. The right oar has been planed fair and clean.



Then I finish the handles with rasps and 60-grit paper, and then sand the oars with 60-grit on a sanding block…careful not to round over any edges.



After the rough sanding, I wet the wood to raise the grain using a damp towel, also raising any scratches and dents…and finish sand with 120-grit, easing all edges gently so they hold finish better. Raising grain between grits minimizes scratching, and removes all the fuzz that can telegraph through your finish the first time the oar gets wet.



WRC is a bit soft and splintery for use as an oar, so I encapsulate the finished oars in epoxy prior to spar urethane varnish. I simply brush on unthickened epoxy heated to 110 degrees with a heat gun and allow the wood to soak up all it will take of it. Messy, and downright ugly to sand afterwards, as the wood usually off gasses some, making bubbles tedious to sand out….but a rock hard and strong surface to varnish over. It doesn’t turn cedar into spruce, but these oars will likely serve a long time.



And after a couple coats of urethane on their way to 6 or so…they are reasonably straight, fair and suitable for service.



Continued….

Here's the finished product along with the boat hook for when something sturdier is required:





I like soft cotton on delicate hands doing heavy work, so I whip the handles in pure cotton twine soaked in water like the leather. Leathers are baseball-stitched and the skived button mounted with brass box-hardware tacks, making the buttons removable if required by some oarlocks.

They'll dry out and shrink up a couple days in the sun, then I'll douse the leather in Bee Oil followed by Westco's beeswax boot treatment. The oversize oarlocks will also be leather lined to minimize denting of the oars.

Makes a change from the usual jarrah hall table or turned bowl!

Great work Bob, I find your detailed treatise's wonderful reading.

Whats next?

Originally Posted by LineLefty

Makes a change from the usual jarrah hall table or turned bowl!

Great work Bob, I find your detailed treatise's wonderful reading.

Whats next?

G'day.

Mate of mine made a similar set of oars & had 2 450mm offcuts when he trimmed the lenght of the handles.
I swipped them & turned them into Salt & Peper grinders & gave them too him for his birthday.
He's the only bloke I know of that has Salt & Peper grinders to match his oars.

oarsome work

Great to see you back Bob, wondered what you were up to. Those oars are absolutely stunning and I'm sure your son will appreciate them.
Reading your story and photos is better than any of the magazines around. Please keep it up.

7ft oars!!!

They are called Amazons???

What magnificent work!


Thoroughly blown away. The care and attention to detail you show is to be commended!.

I have only used basswood for draw fronts, but am very impressed with how it machines, and the uniformity of the grain. Your cedar is lovely.

Cheers

Bloody great work!!!

I'd love a ripper set of oars like that!