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Happy Winter Solstice! 🌇🌃
Making a Composite/Carbon Paddle
- Thread starter Alasgun
- Start date
Starting a new paddle now and going somewhere i’ve never been before. After several Carbon paddles this winter; i’ve got a head full of ideas and some great materials so im attempting a bent shaft this time. And im using .032 G10 for the blade form instead of either Balsa or Foam. the blade will get skinned with carbon/innegra and the shaft is a uni tube with balsa ends; covered with an s-glass sleeve. It’ll start looking like something shortly.
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A single carbon reinforcement was added before shinning the top side After which i hit a huge home run by learning a better way to make flat smooth blades! Knowing that Epoxy wouldn't stick to a counter top; i heavily waxed this surface and laid down a good bit of rosin. After some squeegee work to fully wet the fabric i added the top half of this sandwich And weighted the edges. The results are as flat And smooth as the counter top!
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Once everything was cleaned up it weigh’s 15oz. Without the knob and im hoping for under 17oz once complete.
The blade is only .085 thick and core-less. Both of my materials are known for impact & abrasion resistance so there will be no edge guard. It can be added later if necessary.
Then it was time for some non destructive testing which brought a smile to my face! The paddle was set up with the blade resting on the scale and with roughly 20lb. Of force the blade flexes a little over an inch. Im excited to try it out. It’ll be done next week and i’ll fill in a few more blanks then.
The blade is only .085 thick and core-less. Both of my materials are known for impact & abrasion resistance so there will be no edge guard. It can be added later if necessary.
Then it was time for some non destructive testing which brought a smile to my face! The paddle was set up with the blade resting on the scale and with roughly 20lb. Of force the blade flexes a little over an inch. Im excited to try it out. It’ll be done next week and i’ll fill in a few more blanks then.
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Very interesting. You probably need to wait quite a bit before water testing, do you have a hot tub?
On the counter top issue, I got a granite piece from a sink cutout from a contractor friend, so those that don’t want to get divorced might look into counter fabricators.
Jim
On the counter top issue, I got a granite piece from a sink cutout from a contractor friend, so those that don’t want to get divorced might look into counter fabricators.
Jim
