Member Project: Alex Guthro
Our chapter head, Alex Guthro, has submitted a short write-up and photos of some canoe-related projects he's been working on during this winter's Covid lockdown. Below is his message to the group:
Through the summer and fall it wasn't difficult to stay busy. Being out in your canoe is a terrific way to social distance. This winter, in addition to registering for some online exercise classes, I decided to try my hand at paddle making. I've made two paddles with Caleb Davis of Tremolo paddles most recently at 2019 WCHA Assembly.
I like the narrower blade and the palm grip of Caleb's design and it has become my favourite paddle. Watching Caleb's video on paddle making I thought I'd try to blend his rendition of the shaft and palm grip with the blade of a paddle I bought my daughter decades ago. This was my TEST paddle as I was reacquainting myself with the finer points of using a band saw, hand plane, spokeshave, rasps, and finishing steels. The result has lots of errors and was a good lesson.
Below are two photos. The one with two paddles has the one I made under Caleb's instruction on the left, and my test paddle on the right. The other photo is of the test paddle only.
I need to practise drawing and cutting curves, and to not be so enthusiastic with the electric planer I bought. On one side I took off way too much wood and had to apply a patch. If you're interested, I purchased my wood at Millgrove Wood Products just outside of Hamilton. They were extremely helpful and have great prices. Now I've started paddle #2.
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