Quote Originally Posted by PuFFaH View Post
Would any of the cedars make a good paddle frame, I can see it meeting the requirements for lightness and stability. Alaskan white cedar is clean reasonably light and dimensionally stable. Quarter cut would be best for any wood though. There are many woods that could meet the requirements for a good paddle. Why can the paddle not have a stretched loom type leather instead of the glued down type? Well I suppose it's production costs to sales return that prohibits this

waffle over

PuFF

Puff,
Quarter sawn would make nearly any wood more stable but getting wood milled that way is big $$ because of the waste factor. I like the idea of the loom type design but then the fancy milling of the wood pushes cost up too. Once the box strops are finished I may take a wooden loom type sample up to my Amish friend and see what he can do on it. He has a very well equiped shop, far better than mine for woodworking and is very talented. Almost all of his shop tools have been converted to air motors running off of a gas powered air compressor as the Amish do not use electricity.

Tony