Day Seven

Date: 5/16/22

Current Time: 7:39

Today’s Time: 6:15 hrs

Overall Time: 42:20 hrs

So much progress today! Now my oars really do look like oars! I started off the day by drawing some more lines. I used a handheld electric planer to get the rough angle of the oars. 

I want them to be around ¼ of an inch thick once I’m done so I made the guidelines to reflect that. After playing around with the thickness setting for a bit I was able to pretty quickly rough out the angles. After that, I spent almost 20 minutes trying to decide where to make the fade between the paddle and the shaft (you can see it in the picture below). Then, after I cut that on the bandsaw, I headed outside with the “left-handed” grinder. Greg, who is apparently the oar/paddle-making master gave me a demo and I was on my way. 

It definitely took some getting used to, it is very easy to cut too deep with the grinder and it is not the easiest to control. It was also based completely on feeling alone, which is fine if you have experience… I do not. Even so, I was able to grind and then sand both of them so they look pretty much the same! Just in time for the first bit of rain.

After it started drizzling, I didn’t have too much else to do because I needed to move everything inside. I wiped down the hull with a wet sponge to get all the paint and epoxy dust off it before I start painting, which I should start soon. I left the boatshed just in time to get caught in today’s downpour!