Let's hear more about oars.

I have a set of light 9 foot ash oars which I use while drift fishing.  Way to soft for big water but for drifting I like them.  Made by Shaw and Tenney.

I have rowed some of the 10 foot heavy ash smokers.  The are well made, stiff and very heavy.  I don't like anything about them at all.  Many say they just need to be counter balanced but,  they have too much mass to swing around all day balanced or not.  I'm too old work such heavy things for hours.

I just got a 9 foot 6 set of composite cataract oars and I will say they are my second favorite oar as to the way they flex.  For my taste they have just the right amount of rebound and they are light.  Not wood but I like them.

Then we have aluminum shaft oars.  While they are inexpensive, I wouldn't row them if they were free.  To me, they just feel dead.

Last fall I pulled a set of sitka spruce oars made by Barkley Sound from up in the Great White North.  Large diameter.  With seat belt webbing on them they were still tight in a set of cobras.  When I put my hands on them I was expecting the feel of the heavy smokers.  I almost pushed the handles through the bottom of the boat.  They were wonderful,  light and just the right amount of flex.

Anyone else have any though on spruce oars?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sheirbon on May 4, 2010 at 10:15am
Ray -

You built my boat, so it's not surprising it has spruce oars!

Also not surprising its lasted.

K
Permalink Reply by Charles Ray Heater on May 4, 2010 at 5:44pm
Thanks Kevin. I'm sorry that you were not recognized.

The Shaw and Tenney spruce oars were built exactly as they built their ash oars. The shafts were smaller in diameter than 2" and the blades were too broad so they would feel springy and fragile.

A fellow representing Smoker oars named Larry Dennis, tried to produce spruce oars at my suggestion but the spruce oars were made exactly like their ash oars and I did not feel comfortable selling them.

Ray
Permalink Reply by Joe Dengler on May 4, 2010 at 7:59pm
Ray, are you suggesting the spruce oars would have had a better feel at a 2" diameter and smaller blades? Joe
Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on May 4, 2010 at 7:09pm
I have a different set of oars for all my boats.

Wood drift boat: 9' Sawyer Lites, cheap, fairly tough laminated fir oars. My wood boats see's little use so these oars work well for it.

Willie drift boat: 9' Sawyer Smoker Drifters. These oars are perfect for this boat. Tougher then the lites with nice flex for all day backtrolling.

14' SB SOTAR: 9' Sawyer Smoker Whitewaters. Nice tapered shaft that makes the oar balance in the lock nicely. The oars are larger through the oar wrist area over the drifters giving them less flex, but way more strength.

14' Cataraft, SOTAR: 9'6" Sawyer MX with the 30" long, wide dynalite blades. Huge 2" straight taper shafts that flex very little. The dyna lite blades are simply amazing, stiff, tough and wide, each oar only weighs 8.5 pounds. This is the boat I use on class 4-5 water. This oar setup provides instant response on my cat. Need to grab that micro eddy above Green Wall, four hard pulls with these babies and your there.

Larry, I have a couple buddies that have been running the cataracts for years and they love em, plus they seem very durable. I too do not like counter balanced shafts, they are not needed( IMO )on oars under 10'.

Mike
Permalink Reply by dave campbell on June 9, 2010 at 5:55pm
Hello boat people,
I have two 9' spruce oars with 5" blades that are 3' long. They are 2" in diameter. I purchased the oars about 25 years ago at a Seattle Fire Department surplus sale. The oars were used on a 18' Boston Whaler skiff that was attached to the Fire Boat Duwamish. See: fireboatduwamish.com. The Duwamish was built in 1909 and retired in 1985 following several retrofits.
The oars are perfect- as the Whaler was outboard powered and fireman don't like rowing when they can twist a throttle. The blades are painted tan with a 1/4" white stripe where the blade paint ends.
I have never used them, they just live in my garage for my admiration as they are beautiful in their simplicity of design and function. The spruce probably came from Washington State as we 'had' some magnificent old growth spruce forests on the Olympic Peninsula.
At 71-yo I am in my 'down sizing' mode. Alas, the oars are looking for some exercise!
Any suggestions regarding value, marketing venue, etc is appreciated.
Thanks
davec
Permalink Reply by mitchell on June 10, 2010 at 4:50am
Dave, I'm sorry about the oars but I believe they have no value. You'd better call me up and I'll come get rid of them for you ;-]

But for real...great oar story and I don't have a clue what yours are worth but I do think that a new set of sawyer solid ash smokers are near 2fiddy an oar.
Permalink Reply by andrew white on December 15, 2010 at 3:32pm

dave, u still have the oars?

Andrew

awhite_23@hotmail.com

Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on June 14, 2010 at 10:16pm
Bruce at Smoker will custom make your oars if you beg nicely. I ask for the thickest stock possible at the handle end, and the thinnest blade he'll make at the tip. 1/4" is perfect. They're super light and flexy. But he really hates to make them because hackers bust them and complain and give him a bad name and want a refund. You have to promise that you'll never send them back or bad-mouth him. You also have to promise you'll armor the tips, although I never do--I go with the "soak 'em in linseed oil" system and they're fine and knife through the water like a stiletto.

The other approach is to do what I id for my 11-foot raft oars. I got four beater bludgeons from the throw-away pile at the company I work for, took them home, apologized to the oar gods, and went after them with a power planer. After a few trips I'd taken a couple pounds of needless weight off the blades and gotten a nice, light, flexible oar. I only wish I had access to an 11-foot lathe to put some taper in the shaft, but beggars can't be choosers.

For synthetic oars, I agree the Cataracts are sweet.

And spruce, if you can get it, is super light and very, very nice. I just checked out the Barkley Sound site and they seem very economically priced. Congrats on finding them!
Permalink Reply by JAY STRUGNELL on December 15, 2010 at 6:17pm

MY Brother has spruce oars from barkley sound still the same set for 16 years now,and He and I would egree with You.Very nice to row,His boat doesnt hurt either.His friends have white metal boats and the carbon fiber oar shafts,they say they like them more than His. I find that hard to believe,I dont have much rowing experience,but have rowed both and find the spruce oars,wood boat to handle way better.

Permalink Reply by Dave P on December 16, 2010 at 8:44am

Good timing on this subject. When I bought all the wood for my boat, I included some ash which I hoped to make my own oars from. Well, the boat is basically finished and now it's time for the oars. I'm realizing there is no way I am going to make a hand cut/finished 10 ft. oar. So, I have been researching local places trying to find that10/11 foot lath, and planer here in SW Utah. No luck yet. My questions would include: will it be worth it?, shaft diameter? I already have a blade outline. Any ideas would help. I can always use these massive chunks of wood for the next boat.

Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on December 18, 2010 at 6:24am

Dave:  If you have a bandsaw,drawknife, spokeshave and sanders you can make these oars.  I make masts for my peapods that are two 2x4's glued together - around 12 ' long.  The mast has a short-18" taper on the bottom end and then a taper to the top of the mast.  Bottom dia is around 2" 18"up it is 2  1/2" and top dia is 1  1/2.

 

Lay out you oar as a"square"  on both top and side at whatever dia you want(we will neglect the bladefor now)  Draw lines to indicate the taper and then run the blank through the bandsaw.  Clean up the surfaces with plane,sander.  You can leave the "inboard" end of the blank  square to  act as a counterballance.  Mark off lines on each side of the corners of the blank  to work the square down to an octagon using drawknife, planes etc.  The work the corners of the ocatgaon down to   16 corners. Keep it up  so you end up with a round shaft that is tapered.  It won't be as perfect as a lathe job- but you ca n say they are handmade. I have a pair made like this that have to be 30 years old.

Good Luck

 

Permalink Reply by Marc Tittle on December 16, 2010 at 2:29pm
They may be short on mystique, but I have two sets of cataract sgx oars with counter balanced handles ( 9ft 6 for my dory & 10ft for my raft) they are really hard to beat with consideration to flex pattern and minimal upkeep. Marc

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