TRADITIONAL AND MODERN OAR MAKING
Creating beautiful oars that turn minimum effort into maximum power.
- Clint Chase —July 18–24
There are few projects more thoroughly satisfying than oar making. Making your own oars engages all the senses—the sweet smell of spruce, the feel of the plane peeling off a perfect shaving, and the sound of hand tools at work. The “tricks of the trade” that make crafting an oar truly enjoyable are not easy to pick-up on your own, but will be generously shared in this course. After a week in a pile of shavings, you will leave this course with a new knowledge about oars and rowing, along with your very own set of beautiful oars.
Clint Chase brings years of experience as a boatbuilder and oar maker and has designed this exciting course to guide students through the fundamental steps of making and finishing oars: milling the blanks, choosing a pattern and cutting an oar profile, tapering, 8-, 16-, and 32-siding the looms, and shaping a set of blades. Each student will choose the spruce oars they want to create. Traditionalists will opt for flat-blades or spoons. For those looking to learn about the latest in Composites, one can go laminated-plywood with skins of fiberglass, or the newest in Kevlar-carbon hybrids. Alternatively, you can learn how to make your own carbon-fiber blades over a mold using wet layup, vacuum-bagging, and the latest vacuum-infusion process. Whether you choose traditional or modern, you will learn the crucial methods and knowledge required to craft a lightweight, strong, and balanced oar, making rowing a great pleasure. For those who enjoy the sport of kayaking, Clint will also teach the step-by-step procedures in creating one's own kayak paddle.
After leathering your oars on Saturday morning, Clint will share with his students how to fit oars and oarsman to the boat and, on the water, teach you fixed-seat rowing techniques gained through many miles of open rowing. We’ll have a productive and entertaining week, and each student will head home with a beautiful, functional set of oars to prove it.
Tuition: $750
Materials: pricelist will be furnished upon registration
Note: This is a six-day course ending Saturday afternoon.