Wood Stand Up Paddle

All I wanted for christmas was some wood and waterproof glue...... and vuola!

I've wanted to make a Wood SUP paddle for some time so I've been slowely gathering the tools and materials. This is my first attempt so I've used mostly pine, hardwood shaft and stringers in the paddle for strength and not wanting to spend out too much if it didn't work. After the success of Mk 1,  I now plan to start a balsa and fibre glass version ASAP for greater lightness as I've had so much fun with this one.

The paddle has 13 different sections of wood and the blade is set at 10 degrees.

I used it in perfect waves on New Years day and for me I had the best SUP session so far, bagging plenty of sweeeeeeeet rides as Preston.

I followed Dave Kalama's and Starboards hints for correct paddle length i.e 'one should be able to stand the paddle straight next to you and comfortably reach up and grab the handle' with your arm straight. Method two -  stand the paddle on it's handle top and the end of the shaft / beginning of the paddle is directly in line with your eyes.

How did it perform?  Well...  because of my choice of wood and not wanting to thin out the paddle blade and shaft too much prefering strength for my first attempt it is on the heavy side. But the mark two will use balsa with a laminated shaft and fibre glass covered paddle and this will really result in a carbon challenging light paddle. But I must say Ill definetly use it again as I found it really easy in the waves and stable because of the good length.

I tried a carbon paddle on the day and I definetly want one of those too as it will be difficult to match the power and weight. But saying that this wood paddle easily got me out back and into waves and for me delivered great stability.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED!

'Immediately tell your employer you are sick and cannot come in for 2 days... better make it three days and then start gathering tools, materials, tea bags and milk'

Tools: Hand Plan, Spoke Shave, Saw, Electric Jigsaw, Electric Sander, Sandpaper, Wood Rasp, at least 3 clamps ( these are expensive £20 plus at B&Q ... or £3.60 Newton Market!), water proof wood glue, waterproof/weather proof wood varnish/Yacht varnish).

Which Woods: I've researched wood paddles online - In Hawaii they use 'KOA'. In general for wood paddles.... Cherry, White Oak, Ash, Ceder are used. For my first I used hardwood 'type unknown' for the shaft and blade stringers, and pine. It turned out great ( if a bit heavy ) but I will be trying balsa and fibre glass next. 

1.

Use an existing paddle as a shape template.

2.

Decide  your shaft length and add a 3-4 inches... you can always cut it down.

3.

The shaft is best purchased unshaped and should have a cross section of 2" by 4". The reason for this is that you want to set you paddle blade at an angle of at least 10 degrees and you need a flat surface to glue the paddle sections of wood either side of the blade.

4.

Cut the length of the shaft  length ways down roughly to above the area of the shaft.. leaving the shaft area as it was when you purchased it so you can set the blade angle.

5.

Cut lengths of wood for each side of the blade and lay it all out on the floor ready to start glueing. I used thin hardwood stringers in with the pine for strength and artistic appearance. Don't worry if bits of wood stick out here and there as you will trim them off or plane them down as needed.

6.

You can clamp and glue in one go or I preferred to do it separately either side so as to better set the blade angle.

7.

Once dry I used my existing paddle as a template, traced the outline and jigsawed it out.

8.

For the handle I placed, glued and clamped x2 blocks of wood.

9.

The rest is just planing, sanding and rasping to get the shape you want. I left the shaft oval for better grip and strength and the blade on the thicker side as I didn't want to mess up my first attempt.

10.

Varnish with 3 coats of waterproof/weather proof varnish. But... leave the paddle handle as is to prevent blisters.  I got a tip from Ray Mears and sealed the top of the handle with vegetable oil. The wood soaked it up and it worked well.

Nick.