I used my Jack Plane to shape the blades to 3/4" down the center, tapering to 3/8" at both edges. The spokeshave will be used to bullnose the blade edges.
I am gluing on a hardwood block as a tip protector to guard against accidental drops and bottom strikes. This hardwood tip will also aid in the hinderence of splitting and splintering.
My Jack Plane was too big for this job so, I enlisted my Rabbitt Plane to finish off the tip without cutting into the main blade. As you can see, it did a nice job.
The octagon was probably the easiest part of this build, I just let the Jack Plane do what it was designed to do, to plane a flat, true surface.
The handles on the other hand, were a different matter entirely, not too intense but, involved. I just took my time at a steady pace and the next thing I knew, I was done! The old saying goes like this, "Don't think about it, just do it!
All of the carving work is behind me now. It is time to waterproof the oars with several light coats of polyurethane. I put about 6 coats on them to make sure the oars soaked up as much polyurethane as they wanted to drink.
I wrapped polyurethane cord around the handles using a sailors' technique called whipping. If you don't know what that is or how to do it, you can get instructions in pdf here .
These wraps were put on using the whipping technique as well. The button, a strip of 3/8" wide rawhide, was applied with hot glue, wrapped, hot glue, wrapped and then was nailed on with copper clad brads to finish.
The oar lock posts (inset) are an old school method of securing oars. I chose them for a recent build because of their old-world charm and, they fit right into the design of the Jon Boat . I show them here only because I had already rigged them to the oars, then again, you may like them too. After installation though, they must be lashed to the gunnels.
The oars turned out nicely and they are reasonably straight. They are 7 feet 2 inches long. The blade length is 25 inches. The taper from blade to loom is 6 inches. From the tip of the handle to the button is 30 inches. From the button to the tip of the blade is 56 inches. The oar-lock post (inset) is 5.5 inches X 1.5 inches X 1.125 inches and the tab is .5 inch thick X 1.5 inches wide X 3 inches long and fits into a slot in the gunwales. I hope this information helps.........Randy