Tapering the Shaft

After gluing up the shaft, I tapered the ends on the glue faces for the paddle blades. To cut the taper, I created lines that run from about 21 inches from the end to the end. the taper is full width at the 21 inch mark and narrows to around .75 inches at the ends, taking an equal amount off of each side. I then used a draw knife to rough the cuts and a jack plane to cut to the line. This part was fun and only took 15 minutes for all the tapers.

Notice Nick's book on the work bench.