On one of the three paddle handles I molded, I was able to get one totally glued up with the blade. This morning I did an extra good sharpening on my hand plane and went to work. I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. Yeah, I know I said I was going to do a variation of one of Tim Anderson's quick paddles, but ended up deciding that with all the time I have between now and the maiden voyage, I'd like to try to glue things up proper. I might do a quick paddle for the fourth just to have some variation to play with. One other thing is that I planed the blade thin enough that I'm worried about the glue joints splitting. So I'm thinking of making several 'bowtie' inlays on either side, spanning the joints which should add quite a bit of structural strength. The other option I'm contemplating is to just maybe slap some fiberglass over the tip of the blade.
So the whole thing, unfinished, and without the topmost handle piece weighs exactly 2 lbs (32 oz). Not sure how that compares with other paddles out there, but it feels light to me. And if you're interested in knowing, the blade is made of what I believe to be rosewood, a very commonly available wood here in Papua New Guinea.
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