Oars help needed

[Florin {VACATIONER}]

I am having some difficulty finding 9' oars for my newly almost finished driftboat. Needless to say I could go tomorrow to my fly fishing outfit in town and get some composite Sawyer oars for about $900 a pair (they sure look nice) which isn't too appealing to me unless I've just gone crazy and spent $15,000 on the Clackacraft driftboat (not that there's anything wrong with that if aone had the disposable income for expensive toys like such). I was hoping I could build a pair of my own for a lot cheaper.

Apparently they sould be laminated out of ash and fir, or something like that so that they are flexible enough, but tough enough to be able to resist banging into rocks going down mild rapids etc.

Does anyone have any plans and instructions for building such animals?

Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Florin

[Barry Pyeatt]

http://www.bateau.com/free/simple_oars.html

Relativly easy to make and do the job.

Also:

http://www.floatingbear.ca/Oars.htm

http://marina.fortunecity.com/breakwater/274/2001/0215/index.htm#ROWING%202001B

(Scroll down to Rowing heading)

[Andrew_Butchart]

Florin - I've found it very easy to make oars using just my table saw and then stationary sander to shape the blades.

You should be able to make a pair of 9' oars from a single 11' spruce 2X4 in an afternoon - just make sure to get straight-grained lumber.

Barry beat me in posting the link.

http://www.floatingbear.ca/Oars.htm

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

[Frank Hagan]

Take a look a the thread posted by Bob Smalser in our "Articles" section:

http://www.messing-about.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4194

That thread links to the original thread in our Main Forum, where several other people chimed in with quick and easy methods.

I also put it up as an article with more links at http://www.messing-about.com/articles/oars.html

[John Turpin]

Here are my embarrassingly cheap take-apart oars. I think I have $12 invested (I bought the two shovel handles at Lowes). They're reinforced with fiberglass at the critical places and store easily in my nesting dinghy.

Surprisingly, I feel no (or very little) shame.

[Florin {VACATIONER}]

Looks like you guys knows whatchatalking about. A lot of options and a lot of help I got from you again. I now have to decide which ones to build.

Thanks a bunch guys

Florin

[Florin {VACATIONER}]

I finally found a good deal on oars here in town on some Barkley Sound Oars for my driftboat. They are 9' beautifully handcrafted oars by some good fellas on Vancouver island BC (any imput on these?). Apparently they make these out of sitka spruce and ash (laminated). They came with all the leathers, but now I have to install the leathers on them. They came with a set of instructions on how to install the leathers, but they are more like IKEA instructions and I think they could use a better technical writer.

In other words they do not specify if the leather has to be wetted first or not. I remember reading somewhere on this forum that the leather should be soaked first so that after the install it has a chance to shrink on the shaft of the oar for a tighter fit. Am I going wrong here???

also, they recommend the leather should be waxed for protection... What type of wax, how does it get applied and how often?

I've also seen some plastic blade tip protectors for sale at some of the stores. Is is worth buying these things, or are they just some gimmicks???

Now that I have these oars as model, I can spend some spare time (if I can find it) to build my own spares using these as templates. since sitka spruce is hard and pricy to come by, what other wood can I substitute for it, and what would go with it as a stronger wood to laminate for reinforcement (I don't remember seying ash for sale at home depot)?

Thanks for help!!!