"Attaching The Wenge Tips"

With the Weenge wood cut for the tips and the holes drilled for the dowels and the dowels epoxied in place in the tip, it was time to connect to the ends of the paddle blades.

Before attaching to the blade Neil mixes a bit of fine sawdust from an oak floor that was sanded and adds to some epoxy. This will help fill in any gaps between the tip and the paddle surface and help further strengthen the bond.

We then had to figure out how to get a horizontal clamp on the tip and paddle blade. Neil came up with an ingenious idea I thought which was to clamp a clamp to the blade then use another clamp to clamp the tip onto the clamp secured on the blade. A horizontal clamping technique wit enough pressure so as not to turn up the tip.

The finished structure awaiting union. Soon the Wenge wood of the Congo will be one with the Spruce of the maritimes and the Western Red Cedar of BC or wherever the woods came from.
Next session will see me carve the final shape and begin sanding. After which I will apply and ebony stain and oil and soon the project will be completed. I also marked of a piece of solid Western Red Cedar for my storm paddle I have also started.