oar recommendations

mvansusteren · Post by **mvansusteren** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:53 am

I'am currently building a Skulling Skiff and plan to purchase the oars. Wondering if anyone has some recommendations on what to get or what to avoid.

Graham Knight · Post by **Graham Knight** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 1:12 pm

Why not make your own? It's not difficult, and people are really impressed when they find out you made the oars as well as the boat!

mvansusteren · Post by **mvansusteren** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:50 pm

Ok, do you have suggestions how I go about making my own. I know nothing about making oars, wood, length, shaping. I've seen plans for canoe paddles but nothing big.

Dave Grason · Post by **Dave Grason** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 6:08 pm

mvansusteren

Welcome to the forum. I hope you really enjoy being here. It's a great place for folks that love to build boats of just about any kind.

Graham Knight · Post by **Graham Knight** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:14 am

First take a look at some professional oar maker's sites like THIS ONE, you can pick up lots of tips here. There are lots more if you just do a search.

I made mine with good Douglas-fir, it's not the ideal timber to use, that would be Sitka Spruce but that's very hard to find and very expensive around here. DF works very well though and is easily available, and being stronger than Sitka you can cut down the dimensions to save a bit of weight. My 8' spoons weigh around 3.5lbs each and work really well, as good as any I've ever used.

I made mine using the drawings that came with my Iain Oughtred Acorn plans, but adjusted the length a bit after speaking to some experienced rowers who suggested they needed to be longer. There's a short bit about making oars in Iain's book, but you'd be better off buying a book that's just about oar-making, or reading the many on-line articles.