Thread: Veneer for laminating paddle

I specify two layers of 3mm plywood for my paddles.

The ply provides a hugely strong blade that will take lots of abuse.

Here is AJ's.

Pretty boat, is that one of your lesser known designs Michael?

yap ... it is made from recycled food wrappers ... that's why the colour is so inconsistent.

MIK

Originally Posted by labr@

Am planning to make a double ended kayak paddle with curved blades about 200mm wide but don't know how to obtain timber thin enough. Imagine it will need to be 1 to 2mm thick. Is there a technique by which this could be made at home or does it need industrial machines and therefore need to be bought?

Even if it can be made at home where can it be bought in Adelaide? (In case the process is beyond my limited capabilities).

Thanks for any assistance.

G'day Bob
I downloaded MIKs free paddle plans & tweaked them a bit to mimic my vague
memory of a wonderful Kober 'Moldau' I owned in the 1980's. pic at http://www.uwplatt.edu/~stradfot/sli...March1976.html
Used 4mm pac maple ply off-cuts & planed a taper to the edges on the back of the
blades to cut blade weight & improve sculling hydrodynamics. (a bit limited as ply
blades really can only be made concave in one axis only.) Cost about $20 each
using new oregon 150 x 50 x 2400 from Bone Timber. Lots cheaper using 2nd hand
rafters from neighbour's home extension.

Built as per MIK's plans they will still be an effective & pleasant paddle. His link is under his sig,

Duckworks have other designs such as http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/...ddle/index.htm

cheers
AJ

Thanks for that info AJ. That Moldau looks terrific to my untrained eye and Mik's looks good too. I have read a bit about paddle design but with limited experience can not understand how the principles translate into practical application. Despite this I am determined to make a paddle of my own design and develop it if necessary.

Incidentally I made a quick and dirty paddle a couple of weeks back just to get on the water and made it hollow shafted - a bit like the one on the Duckworks site only my technique was different. It's a bit ugly (suits the owner) with flat blades but is light weight and strong enough for me. Will keep eventually clean it up and keep as a spare.

Have found a few wholesalers of veneers (even a manufacturer) in SA but the retailers seem to be something of a secret society. Will keep searching.

Hi Bob,

What do you mean by "curneve blade"? Are you thinking something like the wing racing paddles (pic below)?

If so, considerably harder than just a curved edge or backed blad like Mik shows.

I'd like to do one of these in wood, and the advice I got on some US forums was to make a mould from the carbon fibre paddle shape, then use wood veneer epoxyied together with a layer of carbon fibre or fibreglass in the middle to gice the veneers strength. You'd need a way to hold the wood/epoxy/glass sandwhich in the mould while it dried (small clamps or a male mould).

I haven't gotten to it yet but still hope to try it. If you're just planning on making a sligntly curved blade in one plane, then a couple of ply laminations as suggested previously would be strong enough. The sandwhich was suggested as the wing paddle is curved in a couple of plance so the wood needs to be think to conform. I'd probably steam it forst too.

Hope this helps, let us know how you go.

Regards,
Darren

Thanks Darren,

No I'm not looking to do a wing paddle as I'd spend more time upside down than paddling !

The ply I have is 3.6mm and low quality and although it is strong enough (my quick and dirty paddle is only 1 layer) it is not suitable for bending/laminating so something else is needed.

If I were to do a wing I would try a mini version of the strip build technique used for hulls. Easy to design and make your own forms then glue strips togehter with epoxy. The compound shape would help the curves stay in place against the spring of the strips.

Hi Bob,

Great idea on the strip design! Thanks for that - sounds a much easier idea than the veneer.

Good luck with your paddle.

Thanks,
Darren