Birdmouth oars

[tx river rat]

I have built some paddles but never a oar or a birdmouth type shaft. So I figure there is no time like the present so here we go.
Had some cedar strips 1/4 thick so I ripped the 45% angle in the edge.



did this to seven pieces and the glued them up with tit bond II





The zip ties work well to hold them together.

view from one end



after they dried I took a plane and rounded them up.
Ron

[tx river rat]

glued up some scrap cedar and turned the handles and plugs



glued them in



then I glued up the blades and ran them through the planer



After gluing in the plug I thinned some tite bond and poured it into the shaft rolled it around and coated the inside.
Ron

[LesForgue]

Nice work Ron

luv that door knob plate sawhorse bracket - that is just my speed.

[makenmend]

Did some a while back, really need to do some more. Some I made using the regular birdsmouth and a couple with a faux birdsmouth, both came out pretty good and suprisingly strong and light. I used plumbing fixtures and 1/2'' aluminium as connectors, worked fine. Now have some carbon fibre material to play with for blades, see what I can come up with (when I have other projects done ! )[img]http://i469.photobucket.com/albums ... .jpg[/img]
[img]http://i469.photobucket.com/albums ... .jpg[/img]
[img]http://i469.photobucket.com/albums ... .jpg[/img]

[makenmend]

regular birdsmouth and connectors/coupling.
[img]http://i469.photobucket.com/albums ... .jpg[/img]

[/url]
[[img]http://i469.photobucket.com/album ... .jpg[/img]

[tx river rat]

These will be used for rowing so I dont have to worry about connecters.
Man that looks good MM
Ron

[tx river rat]

Cut a slot 1/4 deep on the side of the shaft



glued on the blade.



layed up another piece of cedar for the blade brace.



Ron

[tx river rat]

Trimed the tip piece , it laps inside the shaft for an inch and a half.
here is one I am fitting



one glued in place



then I started sanding and finishing the shaft.
Ron

[neon14]

Looks good! I have built several birds mouth paddle shafts over the last couple years. Things are super strong and light. People freak out when I hand them one of my SUP paddles. They always comment on how light it is.

I'm gonna have to build me a double blade pretty quick for the Sabalo. Luckily I made a couple extra paddle shafts when I built a paddle last year

[tx river rat]

So far I am impressed with there weight and stiffness.
Ron