Greenland paddle cedar split

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pawistik
Posts: 323
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:20 pm
Location: Saskatoon, SK

Greenland paddle cedar split

Post by pawistik »

Hello,
The Situation:
I am carving a greenland paddle made of cedar & aspen using Chuck Holst's plans as a guide. The shaft is made from a core piece of cedar (1" x 1 1/2") with 2 aspen strips (1/8"?) laminated on the edges for the length of the paddle. The blades are pieces of cedar. Maybe a diagram would help:
Image

I am at step 3 in Holst's plans so I have carved the blades down to their maximum thickness and have marked out the shape of the blades in preparation to cut the paddle shape out of the blank. The paddle currently looks like a square version of the above.

The Problem:
A split or crack has developed in one of the pieces of cedar that forms one side of a blade. The split is about 3" long and is positioned something like the red line in the above picture.


The Question:
How do I fix this & how do I prevent it from recurring?
Rick
Posts: 727
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 9:23 am
Location: Bancroft, Ontario

Post by Rick »

I'd try and get some epoxy in there, then clamping closed - warming the wood with a hair dryer as well as the epoxy will help it flow in. Or using a syringe to inject into the crack.

If the cedar is cracking now, it'll probably crack even more later on when it's being used. Glassing an inch or two of the tip area on both sides will prevent that. I've done this on regular paddles that began to split and it results in a long-lasting repair. Don't glass too much of the blade, since it increases weight in an area where excess weight isn't wanted.
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pawistik
Posts: 323
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:20 pm
Location: Saskatoon, SK

Follow-up

Post by pawistik »

What I did to fix the crack was I filled the crack with epoxy before going any farther. I put a heat lamp to shine on the blade for 1/2 an hour or so to get the wood nice and warm. I flipped the paddle once in a while to ensure the whole area was evenly warm. I then applied epoxy (Industrial Formulators 51 Cure) and let it soak in. I backed off the heat lamp but still kept it on so that the epoxy would flow deep into the crack. After a few minutes I flipped it over and did the same thing to the crack from the other side. I then turned off the heat lamp, clamped the blade to close the crack and left it to cure in a shop with a descending temperature. The next day I cut the curved blade tip out from the paddle blank and was happy to see that the epoxy had flowed all the way into the crack. I haven't finished carving the blade yet but I'm expecting the pool of epoxy at the blade surface to give me trouble when I hit it with the plane. If I had been on the ball I should have cut the excess away while it was still green. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime I've got a canoe trip to pack for so I probably won't get back to the paddle until next week after I'm back. In the end I'll probalby glass/epoxy the tips.
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