Hi guys,
I was talking to my Dad the other day and just happened to mention that I would really like to try building something pretty much, they way it was done in the old days, ie hand tools only.
His response, "Boy, (I bloody hate that) why dontcha build a paddle? and nothing more was said about it.
A couple of days ago, he turned up here with a box of his fathers planes, spokeshaves etc - full set :shock: that I didn't even know he had. He also had a bunch of 71/2" X 7/8" tongue & groove boards that he had scrounged somewhere. The boards were about 4 feet long, clearly very old and covered in the hardest paint I have ever seen. " Here is your paddle, boy. Oh yeah, and I thought you might like these planes. They were my Dads."
To say I was gobsmacked and thrilled is an understatement. I just love old tools and they are the only thing of my grandfather's that I have, and they are beautiful.
Anyway, back to the story, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do for a paddle so I started removing the paint on a board and as I did so, the grain started to show though. :shock: It is hoop pine. Years ago, it was milled here, and marketed as Oregon and was used a lot in house making (solid timber walls etc) beautiful stuff and no longer available. Straight grained, knot free and just about 30% heavier than cedar but a heck of a lot stronger. I haven't had the pleasure of working with Hoop Pine before.
I cheated a bit, I ripped a couple of the boards down on the table saw, but after that, It was all hand tools. I am pretty pleased so far with the result. I got the first coats of epoxy on today and will post some piccies of the end product tomorrow. (The next one will be much better.
From this,
to this
to this
to this
Playing with these
I was talking to my Dad the other day and just happened to mention that I would really like to try building something pretty much, they way it was done in the old days, ie hand tools only.
His response, "Boy, (I bloody hate that) why dontcha build a paddle? and nothing more was said about it.
A couple of days ago, he turned up here with a box of his fathers planes, spokeshaves etc - full set :shock: that I didn't even know he had. He also had a bunch of 71/2" X 7/8" tongue & groove boards that he had scrounged somewhere. The boards were about 4 feet long, clearly very old and covered in the hardest paint I have ever seen. " Here is your paddle, boy. Oh yeah, and I thought you might like these planes. They were my Dads."
To say I was gobsmacked and thrilled is an understatement. I just love old tools and they are the only thing of my grandfather's that I have, and they are beautiful.
Anyway, back to the story, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do for a paddle so I started removing the paint on a board and as I did so, the grain started to show though. :shock: It is hoop pine. Years ago, it was milled here, and marketed as Oregon and was used a lot in house making (solid timber walls etc) beautiful stuff and no longer available. Straight grained, knot free and just about 30% heavier than cedar but a heck of a lot stronger. I haven't had the pleasure of working with Hoop Pine before.
I cheated a bit, I ripped a couple of the boards down on the table saw, but after that, It was all hand tools. I am pretty pleased so far with the result. I got the first coats of epoxy on today and will post some piccies of the end product tomorrow. (The next one will be much better.
From this,
to this
to this
to this
Playing with these
