I think I saw a set of 8.5 square tops in DRE a couple weeks ago. Wood, with an upgrade. Not cheap, but you wont be disappointed.

 

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Thanks Zach. Will have to call them. The online inventory shows most all oars backordered.

 

I had ordered a pair of 10’ Squaretops with shoal cut blades but decided to go composite. I believe DRE ordered them anyway and they might have them. Dunno if that helps you out or if they’re too long.

 

Hey Randy, yeah I know you are getting the creme de la creme from Levi. I am jealous, but not ready to spend that much just yet. Seems like you are the guy that used to have a line on the old Gull oars. Did they quit exporting to the US permanently?

 

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$600/oar for handmade custom wood oars seems like a screaming deal. He is clearly an accomplished craftsman. At $600 he’s certainly not getting rich off of them.

 

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Check out the continuous curve teardrop blades he drew out for me!
View attachment 83392

Except these are several inches longer, wider, and have a continuous curve. Quite a bit different.

How think is that piece of wood and is that Ash?

 

I made these several years ago for my drift boat with the idea that I’d make a few sets a year. I can’t see anyone paying what they’d cost to make, though. They have a great flex and are incredibly strong. The day I took these photos we had to slide the boat down a long snowball to launch. At one point it got hung up and one of the oars caught and bent way beyond what I would have thought was the breaking point, but held up fine. These would be way too soft for a loaded raft, though. I’d like to make some ash ones for my rafts, but will have to wait for another recession for the shop to slow down a bit.

 

It's November, and hopefully there will be a long snowy winter before boating season.
I say go visit your local hardwood lumber dealer, buy a few pieces of ash, some glue, hand tools, a few cases of beer and get to work.

 

that custom blade shape is nearly exactly This... its a SAWYER Oar

 

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Seems like ur just getting a SAWYER Utility Oar Copy
Its def the Same shape / copy
i love my Sawyers old and new ....they make an Xlnt Oars always Have !!!
They have proven to Love this Sport thru 3 diff owners and Always Been a Solid Company
I have 3 Sawyer Wood Guide Stick 2 that have 24,000 river miles on Each over 20yrs and still use everyday all summer
Sawyer Rules .....

 

Seems like ur just getting a SAWYER Utility Oar Copy
Its def the Same shape / copy
i love my Sawyers old and new ....they make an Xlnt Oars always Have !!!
They have proven to Love this Sport thru 3 diff owners and Always Been a Solid Company
I have 3 Sawyer Wood Guide Stick 2 that have 24,000 river miles on Each over 20yrs and still use everyday all summer
Sawyer Rules .....

I dig Sawyer. They make a decent product. I own Sawyer products and will buy more. But, it is a manufactured product. And like anything manufactured, quality goes down as production goes up. To say that Randaddy is getting a ‘copy’ of a Sawyer oar is pretty ridiculous. (I suspect you’re just trying to get a rise.). Sawyer is using a shape that has been used for, quite literally, thousands of years. The shape Randaddy is getting is certainly similar, but it IS different. I don’t know the guy making those oars, but will assume he is hand picking his lumber to maximize strength/weight/flex and beauty. I guarantee Sawyer gets full units of fir and ash and it all gets milled regardless of knots, checks, grain, or color. Other care goes into handmade wood products. I would imagine those custom oars are using higher quality adhesives and far more care is going into ensuring better adhesion and more uniform and exact clamping of material; something that goes unseen, but effects the longevity a lot. I’m curious to know what he uses for finish, but it can’t be worse than what Sawyer uses. Every guide I know, with square top Sawyers has finish chipping off after a few seasons. I don’t know the method they use, but imagine those oars go through a CNC Spray unit. They certainly aren’t oiled, or flow coated with epoxy followed by 12-15 coats of brushed marine varnish. I’ve made one set of oars. Being my first set, they have plenty of improvements to be made in my next set. They are, though, far better than any Sawyer oar I’ve pulled on. And stronger. (And far more beautiful, if I may say so myself.)
Sawyer makes a great product, but let’s not pretend we’re comparing apples to apples.

 

Montet, I totally agree with you that Levi's oars are worth every penny for the amount of skill and effort he puts into them. I need three of them, preferably four, to balance out the oar parking. Then I would have a set of oars that are worth more than the raft. I would avoid low rocky rivers that would scratch them up. I would worry about them being stolen. But mostly I live on a park ranger pension that is marginal at best. I am not going for cheap, but I have to live within my budget. By the way, the oars you made for your drift boat are incredibly beautiful. I can only imagine how many hours you have in a project like that. I commend you for having the skill and tools to do that.

Randy, thanks for the pic of the oar drawn out on the wood. Very cool. Is that ash? I believe my set of four old Swansons were ash. They were incredibly durable for decades in spite of many rocky rivers and bouncing around in 4-wheel drive trucks, etc. I just varnished them every year or so. I learned to row on wood oars while working at the Grand Canyon early 80's. The old guides and river rangers really scoffed when the synthetic oars started showing up on the river. Plastic/aluminum oars have greatly improved from the original Carlisles, but to me, wood looks right, feels right and keeps going and going.

I saw on the Sawyer website that they are offering a "Smoker" utility oar made of ash. The Sawyer utility oar is made of Douglas Fir. Cocktail Dave, have you used the Smoker ash version? If anyone else has experience with these let me know.

 

I can only imagine how many hours you have in a project like that. I commend you for having the skill and tools to do that.

I didn’t track my time, but it wasn’t substantial. The wenge/cherry/wenge wrap on the blade took the most time. Probably wouldn’t do that again, but it was fun. Oars are quite simple and rather easy to make. You could make a set with a jig saw, a well tuned hand plane, a spare guage (easy to make) and a grinder with flap or carving discs (a coping plane is super helpful for shaping the blade, if you know how to use one). A jointer and planer and a ton of clamps would be nice if you’re laminating it. Obviously a well equipped shop makes things easier, but how many oars did Powell and hang make on the banks of the Green and Colorado? I’d encourage anyone to give it a go. It’s an incredibly satisfying project.

 

Wood oars are nice to row with, if they are well made, but with the kind of abuse I put my oars through, I can’t imagine paying that kind of money, or having something with such fancy finish.

I have the same feeling about fancy guide paddles. When I guided paddle boats, I always just used a customer paddle I found in the river somewhere. I’ve never noticed any kind of advantage to a fancy paddle. If anything the long-shafted guide paddles just mean less leverage.

Don’t even get me started on “shoal cut” blades or square shafts

 

A well made oar from quality materials will endure substantial abuse. The great thing about wood oars, is superficial damage can be made whole with a little sandpaper and oil.
I love using beautifully made things and am more than happy to spend time maintaining said things. It’s tough to get over the idea of scratching something nice up, but they were made to be used. So I’ll use them. And using them will make me happy. And that’s the end goal, anyhow.

 

Interesting, Mr. Nichols,
The Sawyer Smoker Whitewater oar is made from solid ash and features a "thicker blade" to withstand rocky rivers. Costs $422. The Sawyer Smoker utility oar has a thinner blade and is $252. But you recommend sanding down those thick blades because they are heavy. What to do?

 

Compared to my gulls, the sawyer blades are a lot thicker. Both the dory offering, which is almost a log on the end of the shaft, and the lighter standard oars. Compared to the custom ones I have, which have gone down GC twice on my wooden dory, these are much thicker than necessary, in MY opinion. I only rowed the dory oars for a couple days before I deckded they were way too heavy, and bought oars from MT4runner. Best thing I have done boating wise in many years.

MT4runner taught me to grind them down as thin as was reasonable, I did so and am quite pleased. Beats shelling out 500 bucks a stick again.. Although i'm wanting another set of oars from MT4...

 

I hear ya on just getting fine craftsmanship from a guy like MT4. The Sawyer "Smoker" utility oars are made of ash, but likely more light-duty dimensions than the whitewater oar or drifter oar. Probably too light for whitewater. Since I can't afford a full set of $500+ oars on my regular income I had better look at my collection of stuff in my shop and see what I can sell to buy oars with.

 

The smoker whitewater oars are a lot of things, and a whitewater oar is one of them.

I'd PM MT4Runner and chat with him before making any decisions.. Can't hurt anything and his wealth of knowledge about oars eclipses mine...

 

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Oh man!! This is going to cost me. Just need to get drunk enough to order some sweet customs🍻

 

Don’t think for a second I know anything about the subject BUT this winter I wanted a wood working project and I was thinking of a dory, then oars, then paddles after I realized I suck at woodwork and I have no time. Anywho as I googled o found a lot of wood canoe guys that build paddles and a few that build oars too. Anyway a simple google search and you may find a few more guys willing to build oars. Dunno I’d it’s cost effective or any details I just remember seeing them and saying oh look they build oars too. As long as iam talking out my ass I’ve also been shopping for a live aboard sail boat and remember there are dozens of wooden sailboat builders that build dingys and or east coast dories that build custom oars too… where do you guide ? I’d come take a ride on your boat for fun! Mt4runner can build them or you can follow his thread on here too!!

 

Liking this idea of spending the winter trying to make some wooden oars. First go will probably be some 8' oars out of pine just to work out some of the basic kinks. Outcome might only be suitable for garage wall art, but should be fun anyway. Assuming this process doesn't kick my butt too badly, where do you pro's get chunks of ash from that would be big enough to make oars out of?

 

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Over my hard shell kayaking career I have used a couple of JimiStik kayak paddles and several of his kayak designs for New Wave. The feel of these paddles in use is hard to impossible to duplicate.

Paddles perform at the highest levels but honestly also so pretty, you want to keep them on display as wall art.

I do not know if he makes oars, but his kayak and canoe paddles are works of art and performance.

 

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I reached out to jbLaramie directly, but thought I’d extend the offer: if you are in the general area of me (East Idaho), or within the delivery areas of the hardwood suppliers I have accounts with, I can possibly help with getting you materials for oars and such. I get wholesale pricing and am willing to share that discount. Just don’t tell anyone. 😉

 

I had to take a break for 24 hours, but this thread keeps getting more interesting. I saw on the Sawyer website they are selling "Smoker" oars made of ash. They sell some Sawyer oars made of Douglas Fir. I remember the old Gulls were made out of Tasman Fir. MT4 just stated that construction grade Doug fir is "actually functional". There is about a 25% lower price for the fir oars. Is that because Doug Fir is more available than ash or is a fir oar a less functional or durable material? Gull oars were very popular and seemingly functional at one time. I don't know how Tasman fir compares to Douglas fir, though. If I spring for custom oars, my thought would be to go with ash. But that is based on my ownership of a set of Swansons that I was unable to wear out or break in three decades. But if Doug fir would work nearly as well it could work for me. Another consideration now is that, at my age, my boating career has a lot fewer years ahead of me than behind me. I need to ask MT4 about options for my current usage level.

 

I imagine, and he can certainly correct me, if I’m mistaken, as he knows more about oar construction, MT4Runner is talking about using fir as a cost saving measure. I can’t imagine using fir unless cost was so fixed I couldn’t muster the extra to get ash. Fir is much softer and much more prone to splinter. I’ve hit a point, in my shop, that I turn down jobs requesting even quality CVG fir. Fir used to be much better, but what is being cut these days is often third growth and a far cry from the old growth of yore. I believe ash will be a better choice for longevity as it is substantially harder and less prone to split/splinter. It is also a more stable hardwood and less prone to twisting/warping, but I imagine that is why Sawyer laminates so many pieces.
I am speaking as someone well versed in working wood, but not as someone well versed in oar building MT4Runner has far more experience with building oars.

 

I just feel bad beatering wood oars. Seems un cuth (sp) doesn’t seem to bother me to smash and bash and lose the others lol. I tell you o broke three oars in the same wipeout? That’s 2k dollars if they are wood!

 

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I've got a 9' Smoker that needs a new home. It's too short for me. I salvaged it from the river. No markings. I tried for a long time to find its previous owner.

It will need a sanding for sure and some oil. I had thought about hanging it on the wall of my office, but I never did, and now I'm no longer working.

If you think you can use it, come get it. If you feel the need to open your wallet for it, make a donation to American Whitewater or Willamette Riverkeeper; I don't want any money for it.

 

Found this Sawyer, poking around this morning:

Premium Axe Handle Blanks | Thrane Axe & Sawmill

thraneaxeandsawco.com

It appears they sell air dried ash for a pretty reasonable price. $10/board foot. Last I checked, I think I could get it for around $6 for kiln dried wholesale. Guessing you’d need around 25 board feet for two oars. Guessing it’s be around $50-$100 for shipping. It’s not a big deal to ship material.
Kiln dried wood is probably fine, but air dried wood will be less brittle. Air drying also maintains more of the natural colors in the wood. Kiln drying tends to dull things. I’m not sure how much a difference it makes for ash, but it makes a huge difference in some woods, like walnut. If I were to spend the time to make another set, I’d also take the time yo find quality air dried material.

 

Good info, I am determined to go with ash if possible. I don't have all the tools necessary to make my own and it's impractical to buy them to make one set of oars. That leaves buying from Sawyer or one of the several one-man operations around the country. Sawyer is currently offering 3 models of ash oars: Smoker Utility, Smoker Whitewater and Smoker Drifter. The latter two are on backorder. I have searched the river supply stores and they seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked. If I order directly from Sawyer they quoted $580 shipping cost. The website only offers FedEx 3-day shipping. There must be a more economical way to ship, but they didn't offer anything else. Sure wish Will Amette had found two river booty 9ft Smokers, I would cut them down. Probably time to take another look at Songbird and Mt4runner. I will also talk to the local river shop, 4-Corners Riversports, whether they can ever get some Sawyer/Smoker oars to their shop without me paying the shipping. They do sell Sawyer products, but the current inventory is dismal.