tomorrow never comes,,,,

it’s nine AM, and Grizz in in full tizzy mode since it looks like a waterfall off the down edge of my porchroof.   He HATEZ rain.   gives me ‘what-for’ when I take showers, hollarin’ “YurgonnaDIE!!!”   It takes a few minutes for him to settle down too.  Unlike his brudder, Zoomz, who has that Kat’titude of “can’t fix it, take a nap,,,”  and whom is totally sprawled across my bed right now.   How is it, a 6# kat can take up MORE space than a 200# hoo-man???   I have never figured that’un out.

No kayak-y love for Dio today, unless this mess blows through.   Too many booms and rumbles for my liking.  Tomorrow never comes, take it day by day.   

So, No paddling to be done, but paddles to make.  And that is just what Ima doin’.   New power planer works like a champ.  Same small issue of the cedar clogging the vent, but if I take it slow, 1/32″ cut max, it does well.   Thats fine, what I am ‘trimming’ is a taper on the blade. and I do it in growing cuts from the ends to the center.   Out ends are at 1/16″ while the center board/loom (not the ridgeline, that’s much thicker) is at 1/2″.  

And I just glued and clamped the whole mess, board to ridge and set a weight on center loom to give it a slight warp of MY CHOOSING.     I want the blade slightly trailing to the loom so that when things start to flex, the paddle ‘straightens up’.   and being several layers thick, some will be in flex, some in compression and the whole thing should be far stronger than its  individual sections.   

Figured out why the cedar is clogging though.   Its NOT Western Redwood cedar, like my dad told me.   No way in hell: this stuff is Eastern Red Cedar, sometimes known as Virginian Cedar, full of little pin knots, and more sap, even several years cured, than I like.    That sap is whats gumming up the planer, as it gets heated in the cut.   Smells wonderful, looks even better, but kind of a pain the ass.   I am not worried about the knots because its the center section, with two stronger pieces sandwiching it.   The Ridge is real WRC from Oregon straight grained and clear as all get out.  The main face of the paddle is 1/4″x3″ clear Hickory (Seriously, CLEAR and straight grained, no pin knots or anything, for a FULL 96″!!!!). What little of the VC is showing is more as a filler than structural, and will give the paddle character.  the worst knot is quite solid and is nearer the end and centered and well surrounded by solid wood.   The second worst is going to be trimmed off most of the way when I cut the shoulders so won’t be an issue either.

So, now, its sit and watch glue dry, or the alternative, watch the show on the insides of my eyelids (take a nap),,, and wait for weather to blow through (or not, not my call,,, ).   This has to be the wettest summer I have seen in these parts in 10 years.  Krazy,,,