Just before I went to Maine with the boy scouts I realized I was short of good paddles So I decided to repair what I had. Here is a description of what I did to repair the handles. This repair was done using hand tools to show it can be done. The tools used were drill and bits, saw, knife, file, and wood chisel.
Many of the handles had lost a piece of the grip like this.
I squared the old handle off using a saw and my Bushman.
The front and backs were then squared off leaving a ledge to rest the new handle against, This was done by using a backsaw to cut a groove where the ledge would be then shaving up to the notch with the Bushman and finally smothing it out with a file.
After the shaft was squared I cut a piece of 1 1/4 inch poplar dowel to 4 3/4 inches and drilled a series of holes as long and wide as the squared piece on the shaft.
The drilled holes were then squared off using a wood chisel.
The Dowel was fit over the shaft and glued in place with Gorilla Glue (the fit should have been tighter so I took up the gap with a shim made from cedar shingle) Gorilla glue relies on a tight fit.
After the glue had set the excess shaft was cut off and the handle was sanded for comfort.
N
otice the filler in the top view.
Many of the handles had lost a piece of the grip like this.
I squared the old handle off using a saw and my Bushman.
The front and backs were then squared off leaving a ledge to rest the new handle against, This was done by using a backsaw to cut a groove where the ledge would be then shaving up to the notch with the Bushman and finally smothing it out with a file.
After the shaft was squared I cut a piece of 1 1/4 inch poplar dowel to 4 3/4 inches and drilled a series of holes as long and wide as the squared piece on the shaft.
The drilled holes were then squared off using a wood chisel.
The Dowel was fit over the shaft and glued in place with Gorilla Glue (the fit should have been tighter so I took up the gap with a shim made from cedar shingle) Gorilla glue relies on a tight fit.
After the glue had set the excess shaft was cut off and the handle was sanded for comfort.
otice the filler in the top view.
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