Making the oars

[cs]

I've bought the material to make my oars with and have deterimined that the oars need to be 7'-6" longs as per a forumla that Don posted earlier. Now I ain't using no plans to make these with, just my noggin. The blades will be 7-14" wide and 3/4" thick. Yes I'm using dimensional lumber. My question is this. I laid out the blade to be 20" long and than it starts to taper down to the handle. It takes about 6" to do this. Looking at it laid out this don't seem long enough. What should the blade length be?

Chad

[Tom Dugan]

This is taken from Jim Michalak's web page. Stretching it another 7" in the shaft should give you exactly what you want.

Notice that these oars are only 4" wide (the top pic is of the pattern on a 1X6). Believe me, this is plenty. There's no need to make them 7"-14" wide. Taper where possible, like making the shaft oval near the blade with the wide part perpendicular to the blade, along the axis of greatest stress.

Oar making is easy, but if this is your first time, steal the best ideas from those that have gone before you.

Good Luck!
-T

[Bill Perkins]

Chad a nuance worth pursuing is a slight outward flare in the grip . My old Shaw and Tenneys ( top notch maker ) increase in diameter from 1 1/8th in. to 1 3/4 in. over the 5 in. length of the grip . This makes a big difference , as you don't have to grip the oar as hard . Also leave the varnish off the grip .

[cs]

So I need to make the blade 4" wide and 24" long, taper the grip to the outside and taper everywhere possible. Oh and no varnish on the grip. Sounds good to me. Hopefully tonight I will get them cut out and glued up.

Chad

[Bill Perkins]

The idea is to FLARE the grip to the outside . That is , the very end of the oars are 1 3/4 in. in diameter on my set .The inner end of the grip is 1 1/8 in.

I saw your signature . Coincidentally I've been rereading Shelby Footes "The Civil War " ; specifically the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta . Sherman is closeing in . Johnson has been relieved and replaced by Hood . McPherson's dead ( mourned by the Southern as well as the Northern commander . They were classmates at West point and apparently McPherson was an all round great guy . He was 1st in his class . Hood was 44th out of 52 ). The siege is about to begin and we'll probably be reduced to eating the house pets in a couple of weeks...

[ 06-17-2002, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: Bill Perkins ]

[cs]

Bill I think that is what I meant, just said it backwards.

I got that quote from the book "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young". I thought it summed it up pretty well.

Chad