: Good afternoon from the Chilly north east.

: thanks for all the help so far Im sure ill have more questions when
: I start the merganser 17w.

: any way while waiting for my kit to show up I carved up a paddle
: (for practice) 5 dollar Junk cedar 2 x 4. shaped up Ok.

: Im going to fabricate a better paddle (maybe laminated) My question
: is How do most of you add hardwood tips.

: many of the plans I see call for pretty thin tips 3/8"+- and
: thus any dowls or tounge/groove joints will get sanded into/
: away??

: is the reason so many hardwood tips are quite long 3-4 " so to
: keep the joint in a thicker spot on the paddle.

: whats your method

: 1) just epoxy on (I tried but wasnt very strong snapped off easy
: 3" tip) perhaps a SHORT TIP just glued could POSSIBLY work
: ( perhaps say up to 3/4" LONG?) ?

: 2) tounge groove? biscuit joint??

: 3) dowls

: 4) fancy finger/puzzle type joint

: YOUR THOUGHTS please

: many thanks.

: Have a great day

: "John"

I just epoxy the tips on with thickened epoxy and don't clamp real tight to get a decent thickness of glue line, the epoxy is somewhat flexible and provides some shock resistance, but it you clamp it really tight there's not enough left to work. I leave the tips of the paddle fairly rough before I glue the hardwood blocks on and sand/plane the tips to shape after the epoxy has fully set up, left for at least 3 days if not a week before I shape them.

Not had any problem at all with them breaking off, nor have my students that have done the same thing.

Bill H.