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~ Beautiful hand illuminated oars and paddles

Trophy Oars

Monthly Archives: January 2017

Tips and tricks

27 Friday Jan 2017

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Many older oars have had hard lives. It’s not just the years, but things like rough docks, accidents, and the weather take their toll.

Following on from the paint stripping archeological dig, this set of oars all had worn and damaged end tips and one also had a significant chip off the top edge.

I’ve seen the ‘old school’ boatmen do these repairs very quickly, but here is how I’m bumbling along…

Damaged and worn down.

tips

Old tip removed with chisel.

tips1

New tip bonded in place.

tips2

Trimmed with saw, then planed to shape.

tips3

Two replaced tips beside unrepaired oars.

tips4

Then I had to repair the damaged top edge…

With small chips it is usually easiest to do a repair with some epoxy filler, but when bigger chunks are gone you need to use pieces of timber. This is how the oars were repaired to rowable condition back in the day.

First I planed the area smooth. Then some new spruce was bonded into place. For economy a thin piece was used, but it had to be put on in two sections so that it could deal with the curve of the blade face. It does stick out a bit!

edge

Then the rough outline for the repaired shape is pencilled on (see above) with the aid of another oar as template, and the excess material was cut off with a jig saw.

edge1edge2

Still a bit lumpy, so a small plane was used on the convex back of the blade and a spokeshave used on the concave front of the blade.

edge3

Then a bit of coarse sanding to get the shape and edge looking good.

edge4edge5

There is still some more work to be done with sanding and light filling, but very soon these two oars will be ready to be painted.

It’s a lot of work, but the final result is worth it.

Around Hong Kong remembered

11 Wednesday Jan 2017

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Early last year I was asked to paint a blade to commemorate the first women’s crew to take part in the Around the Island Race. The RHKYC had just purchased its first coastal rowing boats in 2006 and there were only a handful of rowers crazy enough to think that racing 45km around Hong Kong Island would be a good way to spend your weekend.

The rower who commissioned the trophy said that she was going to present it to her crew mate. I thought that was very nice of her and proceeded to complete the oar.

img_20160309_094448094

When done, the customer said it was lovely and asked how the second blade was going.

Second blade? Ummm…

Somewhere along the email chain this small detail was missed or presumed. I did think she was being very generous, but she actually wanted a copy for herself too!

There was no problem with creating a second blade, but there was going to be a slight delay. I was just about to move from Hong Kong to London and all my materials were to be packed and shipped.

img_20161110_133339592

Six months later I had a matching copy and the customer was able to collect them.

Almost to the day, Carrie gave this gift to Sara to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this epic first row. What a wonderful way for two great friends to recall their great adventure!

sarahoar

 

Sara and Carrie racing past a Star Ferry in Victoria Harbour. Sara with her gift.

 

 

Oar Archeology

08 Sunday Jan 2017

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As a small update to my previous comments about paint stripping, here are some photos to illustrate.

This set of oars has certainly had a few lives. As best as I can see, they have had at least three different paint jobs.

  • White with a blue band (white undercoat)
  • Yellow (white undercoat)
  • Yellow front with black back (grey undercoat), and
  • a second coat of the same with slightly different paint

oararcheology

Trophy Oars

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Bahamas
Bahamas
Bahamas detail
Bahamas detail
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
RHKYC thank you gift
RHKYC thank you gift
Around the Island Race
Around the Island Race
Hong Kong Championships
Hong Kong Championships
IMG_0741
RHKYC birthday gift
RHKYC birthday gift
RHKYC birthday gift
RHKYC birthday gift
Australian Junior
Australian Junior
AUS
AUS
Assorted signed AUS blades
Assorted signed AUS blades
AUS
AUS
AUS
AUS
AUS Sydney 2000
AUS Sydney 2000
AUS
AUS
Outrigger canoe
Outrigger canoe
cricket
Fintona Girls' School
Fintona Girls’ School
University of Melbourne Intercollegiate
University of Melbourne Intercollegiate
Australian Intervarstiy
Australian Intervarstiy
City of Oxford
City of Oxford
MUBC Head of the Charles
MUBC Head of the Charles
University of York
University of York
King's Cup
King’s Cup
Latrobe University
Latrobe University
Latrobe University detail
Latrobe University detail
MLC
MLC
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
MUBC
MUBC
New Zealand Universities
New Zealand Universities
Ormond College
Ormond College
RHKYC farewell gift
RHKYC farewell gift
David Sorton
David Sorton
David Sorton
David Sorton
Dick Ewing
Dick Ewing
Dick Ewing
Dick Ewing
Queen's College
Queen’s College
Queen's College detail
Queen’s College detail
rhkyc4L
richmond champ 04L
Richmond Rowing Club
Richmond Rowing Club
Original Scotch College oar
Original Scotch College oar
Recreated Scotch College
Recreated Scotch College
vogel1L
vogel2L
zaraL
IMG_20150418_061900

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