Make Oars From Two by Fours

Oars are expensive. Scrap lumber is free.
Here's a quick way to make oars out of two by fours and other scrap lumber. It's a lot quicker to do it than to read about it.

  More paddle and oar making projects:
Here's the quickest way I know to make a paddle.
How to make an Eskimo style kayak paddle from a 2x4 in 1.5 hours
Make a steering oar for a Marshall Islands Racing canoe.

We're going to use this pencil to trace around something. We'll sharpen it toward one side so the line doesn't get offset by the thickness of the pencil.

Get one of those wide flat pencils from the lumberyard. Sharpen with a knife as shown so it's flat on one side and sharpened on the other side. Finish by rubbing it on a piece of sandpaper.

In the surfboard industry this is called "R+D", which stands for "ripoff and duplicate".
Find an oar you like and a piece of thin scrap plywood or sheet metal to trace it on.
Lay the oar on it.
Pound some nails around the oar to keep it from moving. Clamping it down would work also.

Trace the oar onto the pattern. You can hold the pencil vertical by holding it against either a spirit bubble level or a square.

Cut out the pattern using a saw. I used a bandsaw. Use whatever saw you have.
Don't cut yourself. A bandsaw is dangerous and cuts meat really well. Then sand down to the line with your favorite power sander.

You could skip the patternmaking step and trace right onto the lumber you're making oars from.
Or you could make one oar freehand and trace that for your second oar.

I'm making a pattern because I'm planning to make more oars later. I'm planning to let other people use the original oars I'm copying, so they'll probably get lost in some adventure. Then I'll still have the pattern.

Scavenge some lumber. Straight grain and small knots are good. I got some that had been used as forms for concrete. That stuff is usually decent under the grey scum.
If your oar blade is too wide for your 2x4, don't worry about it. The stuff you cut off around the handle will be plenty to glue at the blade end to make it wide.

Trace the pattern onto the lumber.
My pattern turned out crooked. Either I traced a crooked oar or the pattern warped.
To cope with that I flipped the pattern over and traced it again.
To get a straight oar, you can use either the outer lines, the inner lines, or the average between them.

Saw out the oar around the lines. I used a Japanese pullsaw. Any saw will work.
The offcuts will get glued around the blade. If you use an oar pattern with a narrow blade or find wide wood, no gluing is required. I found a 2x8 for my second oar.

Glue and clamp the offcuts to the side of the blade to make it wide enough.
I used yellow waterbased "waterproof" glue. That needs a pretty tight fit. If you use epoxy your joint doesn't have to fit so well.

While the glue dries, go surfing.
Some pals and I went kitesurfing at Point Reyes.
Here's a hasty paddle we found washed up on the beach.
Someone made it from a chunk of plywood. Maybe they make a habit of losing paddles, so they don't waste time making them. Or maybe they were in a hurry to get out to sea and they lost more than that.

Trace the blade onto the blank.
Jane Lee uses the "guillotine" brand meat saw to saw out the blade.
When she's done she still has fingers. Strive to do so well.

Trace the handle shape onto the side of the handle.
Cut it out.

Clamp down the oar so it can't jump around. Plane it to the shape you like.
Feel the blade with your hand, then feel the blade of an oar you like. Your hand will tell you more about the blade shape than your eye will.

Save the shavings for your composting toilet.

Do this when you're awake but not shaky from caffeine.
Put a coarse grit sanding disk on your angle grinder.
Wear dust mask and safety glasses.
Sand the two views down to the line. Then grind all the corners flat as shown to make it an octagon. Then round those octagon edges.

Sand the blades smooth.
Octagon the shafts where they meet the blade. Leave the shaft square by the handle. You want as much weight as you can get there to balance the weight of the blades.

Don't paint the handles. Tradition says it's easier on the hands that way.
Paint the rest with free paint from your town's toxic dropoff center or building reuse depot.
Hang the oars or rest them on nail points as seen here so you can paint both sides of the oar.

These are "instant" oarlocks designed by Phil Bolger and "Dynamite" Payson.
I made them from stainless steel rod, sheet, and wire.
The string tethers keep them from sliding off the oars and getting lost.
If the rubber hose is too tight or stiff to slide on, put it in hot water to soften and lubricate it.

Make the strap part of the oarlock big enough so the oar can pivot without bending or binding in the strap. Row so the oar pushes against the rod.

Happy rowing!

  More paddle and oar making projects:
Here's the quickest way I know to make a paddle.
How to make an Eskimo style kayak paddle from a 2x4 in 1.5 hours
Make a steering oar for a Marshall Islands Racing canoe.