Wednesday, July 25, 2012

fixing the Aleut paddle

Here`s a still taken  from the video when I broke my Aleut paddle

You can see the moment of breakage as the blade separates from the loom. Luckily for me the break was not sheared  off, so I decided to be a good Aleut and try to fix it, otherwise I would have to carve another one and thats quite a job.

First I pried open the split and applied some Gorilla glue then drilled a couple of holes through the loom and glued dowels in. The second one is at an angle to give extra strength

You can see the fracture line here

After the glue dried and the dowels were cut and sanded I put on a layer of varnish and now its as good as new, well almost. I wonder how long it will take to break again.

1 comment:

gnarlydog said...

Dang, those images alone were worth breaking the paddle! or maybe not...
Good work fixing your Aleut.
I fixed a couple of snapped WRC Aleut paddles by using epoxy and a thin layer of glass over the break.
Not exactly pretty but sturdy enough to go back in the surf.
I hope yours holds.