"Semi-Old Fashioned" way of making a pole
With some spare time during late August, I finished off the carving with the crooked knife. Of course, the pole isn't perfect like a machined rod, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Following the advice of some online plans, I left the bottom 4 feet in an octagonal shape for looks and rigidity and then did my best to round out and gradually taper the remaining length.
Carving out by the fire pit
While I could've made a hardware store style copper pipe shoe, I ended up "splurging" for a specific accessory (and support the fledging canoe poling shoe industry) by ordering a cast bronze shoe from Bruce Hooke. A beautiful looking tip arrived promptly in the mail.
Bruce's Bronze Poling Shoe; Dimensions on rear
With a basic saw cut and then back cuts with a knife, the tip was worked down to fit to shape. This took some trial and error, but eventually, I got a nice tight fit.
Shaping the tip for the poling shoe
The left-over edges were then worked down to meet the edges of the shoe for a relatively seamless transition. Before mounting the shoe with the included screws, the pole was given thorough soaking in oil which really brought out the grain. Here is the result.
Mounted Brass Shoe
The finished product
There's a bit of warping at the other end of the pole, but there's a chance that I might shorten the length once I get a feel for its use and cut a portion of this upper part off. It seems many folks use a pole around 12 feet or so, but I've read some other sources that mention a length of 10 1/2 feet might suffice depending on technique and water depth. Now I just have to paddle to the nearby shallow creek and give it a try before the end of the paddling season creeps up.
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6 comments:
Nice work on the canoe pole the warp looks fine. The rest looks poker straight well made. I hope you get to use it before to long :)Brian(:
That is AWESOME, Murat! You are always a source of inspiration.
Many thanks guys! Fiona...I recently forwarded your email to a young lady seeking out a paddle blank to decorate herself. Didn't have any on hand for her so thought of an unfinished Badger Paddle as a viable option. Hope you can help her out.
Will be glad to help out! Thanks for thinking of Badger, Murat.
Hello Murrat, nice job. I know how tricky it can be to make the pole-shoe fit: http://paddelblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/hobeltraining-3.html (by the way: don't shorten the pole, once you get used to poling you will need the whole length. Axel
Good Work and a nice blog thanks Have you thought of steam bending the warp out of the pole? I suggest you practice the technique on some spare wood.John
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