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A carved paddle starts from a single thick board and removes most of it as waste. This one starts from thin strips of contrasting hardwood — maple, cherry, walnut, whatever you have — glued into one blank, so the shaft's cross-section is solid lamination instead of one species carved down.
The shaft thickness is the one number that matters before you cut anything: mill every strip to the same 1.25" thickness, because that becomes the shaft's finished cross-section after rounding. Everything past that point — overall length, blade width, grip spacing — scales to your own body rather than a fixed spec: paddle length to about your own chin height, hands a bit more than shoulder-width apart on the shaft.
This is a hand-tool-heavy build. The blade gets shaped down to about 1/4" thick with a block plane, by eye, checked constantly against a centerline — there's no jig that does this step for you.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| Assorted hardwood strips (maple, cherry, walnut, or similar)Contrasting species are optional but traditional for a laminated paddle.≈ about 11 ft of 3/4" × 6" board | 4 board ft |
| Wood glueEnough for one full-length glue-up session. | 4 oz |
| Spar urethane finish | 8 oz |
| Fiberglass cloth and epoxyOptional tip reinforcement — skip if the paddle won't see rocky shallows. | 1 kit |
A board foot is a volume, not a length: 144 cubic inches, or a piece 1″ thick by 12″ wide by 12″ long. The “≈” note beside each row shows roughly how much 3/4″ × 6″ board that works out to.
Overall cost: $$. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Lamination stripsAssorted hardwoodMilled to a common 1.25" (32mm) thickness before laminating — this becomes the shaft's cross-section after rounding. Adjust overall length to your own chin height; 60in is a starting point, not a rule. | 6 | 5/16" × 1 1/4" × 60" |
Buy 6 boards at 8 ft.
6 boards
Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →
Mill all your hardwood strips to a consistent 1.25" (32mm) thickness. This single number is the shaft's future cross-section — every strip needs to agree with it before glue-up, because you can't correct thickness after the blank is assembled.
Glue all the strips into a single blank in one clamping session — the whole length needs even pressure at once, not section by section. Let it cure fully before touching a saw to it.
Trace a paddle outline onto the blank: overall length about equal to your own chin height, with the grip positioned so your hands land a bit more than shoulder-width apart on the shaft. Cut the profile on the bandsaw.
Mark a centerline down both faces of the blade, then resaw close to the shoulder lines on the bandsaw to remove bulk waste before hand-shaping — this saves a lot of plane and sander work later.
Hand-shape the blade down to about 1/4" (6mm) thickness with a block plane, checking constantly against the centerline so you don't shape one side thinner than the other. Round the shaft with a router roundover bit and/or block plane.
Sand progressively to a smooth finish across the whole paddle. Optionally reinforce the blade tip with fiberglass cloth and epoxy if it'll see rocky shallows.
Apply several light coats of spar urethane, sanding lightly between coats.
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