Day 19, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer

Day 19) skin-on-frame row/sail canoe. 5hrs.
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Finished the replacement oars today bringing the total time for this pair down to 8 hrs, which is an acceptable amount of time. Loving the spruce looms with ash blades, seems like a perfect marriage of weight, strength and toughness. This pair weighs a bit over 3lbs each and once I thin them a bit more to tune the flex I’m sure I can get a bit below 3 which is what feels right to me.
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I do most of my carving with power tools, specifically an older model Bosch planer (the new ones are HEAVY and they suck) and a 4 inch angle grinder with a 40 grit sanding wheel. It’s an unforgiving combination but wielded with laser focus it’s a fast way to get down to where I can switch to hand tools for the finishing touches. I lock the grinder to my body with my elbows and carve by moving from my legs instead sort of like a human CNC machine. Done with precision it lets my carve a perfect subtle hollow on either side of the spine on the blade.
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Efficient setup and sequencing are also big time savers. On my left I place all the tools I need in sequence, on my right I clamp the oar at belly height. Once I can reach every tool without taking more than one step, I work through ALL of the shaping steps before I unclamp and switch to the other side. This saves a huge amount of time but oars are still a decent amount of work. It takes roughly twice as long to make an oar as it does a Greenland paddle, and you need two of them! The beautifully shaped oars made by Shaw and Tenney are remarkably inexpensive considering what goes into them.
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I’m still enjoying the character in the wood, little rot pockets that will seal with varnish, and some sort of insect track from something that must have had monster teeth looking at the serrations at the edges. Does anyone know what sort of bug makes a hole like that? Is it a termite?
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Looking forward to getting some finish on these to see the grain pop.
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Day 19, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer. Build time: 5hrs.

Finished the replacement oars today bringing the total time for this pair down to 8 hrs, which is an acceptable amount of time. Loving the spruce looms with ash blades, seems like a perfect marriage of weight, strength and toughness. This pair weighs a bit over 3lbs each and once I thin them a bit more to tune the flex I’m sure I can get a bit below 3 which is what feels right to me.

I do most of my carving with power tools, specifically an older model Bosch planer (the new ones are HEAVY and they suck) and a 4 inch angle grinder with a 40 grit sanding wheel. It’s an unforgiving combination but wielded with laser focus it’s a fast way to get down to where I can switch to hand tools for the finishing touches. I lock the grinder to my body with my elbows and carve by moving from my legs instead sort of like a human CNC machine. Done with precision it lets my carve a perfect subtle hollow on either side of the spine on the blade.

Efficient setup and sequencing are also big time savers. On my left I place all the tools I need in sequence, on my right I clamp the oar at belly height. Once I can reach every tool without taking more than one step, I work through ALL of the shaping steps before I unclamp and switch to the other side. This saves a huge amount of time but oars are still a decent amount of work. It takes roughly twice as long to make an oar as it does a Greenland paddle, and you need two of them! The beautifully shaped oars made by Shaw and Tenney are remarkably inexpensive considering what goes into them.

I’m still enjoying the character in the wood, little rot pockets that will seal with varnish, and some sort of insect track from something that must have had monster teeth looking at the serrations at the edges. Does anyone know what sort of bug makes a hole like that? Is it a termite?

Looking forward to getting some finish on these to see the grain pop.