Scarfed Feathered Wooden Kayak Paddle Shafts
I have also
built paddle shafts as described in Nick Schade's book, The
Strip-Built Sea Kayak. Lamination sections are prepared as with bent-lamination
shafts, with "holey" layers for the inside. In this case, I used
6 strips 3/16" x 1 1/2" x 60". Pieces only have to be 4'
- 5' long as two pieces will be scarfed together in the middle to make
a longer, feathered shaft.
In this photo, I have enough laminations to make 2 complete paddle shafts. The shafts will consist of Fir/ Cedar/ Redwood/ Redwood/ Cedar/ Fir. The cedar and redwood layers are the "holey" ones.
Next, the pieces are clamped together after coating mating faces with epoxy. My PVC "Cheap Clamps" don't develop enough clamping pressure on a 1 1/4" thick paddle shaft, so two shafts are doubled up to create more force between the "jaws" of the clamp.
When the epoxy is fully cured, I ran each half-shaft through the table saw to line up the sides of the laminates, and then I set the saw at 45* and chamfered all 4 corners to save a lot of rasping and planing later.
The scarf
is cut exactly as described in Nick's book and the two halves are epoxied
together.
In the photo (right) it is easy to see the holey layers in the center--these are covered by the scarf on the other half of the shaft. I left out the holes in the blade region of the shaft so that they wouldn't show when this area is shaped. However, I forgot to realize that scarfing together two 5' pieces will only shorten the total length by the length of one scarf (about 8"). I ended up with a full shaft that was about 8'-6" long; when I cut the shaft down to 235 cm (7'-8"), I exposed some of the holes in the blade area. Next time I will shorten the overall length by cutting more out of the middle (scarf)
Then, a lengthy period of planing and rasping ensues until the shafts are ovalled and fit nicely in the curve of your thumb and forefinger.
The blades are then attached based on the type of blade installed.