The oars have been cut and one of the cut outs was selected to act as the oars top laminate to give the oar more strength. The selected piece was planed by hand until it was perfectly flat. The mating surfaces between the main oar piece and the top laminate had to be perfectly flat and smooth. This would ensure a tight seam with no voids so the glue would have the strongest bond possible.
A block plane was used to coarsely reduce the side of the laminate and make it smooth. Then a jack plane was used to finish the smoothing process. The fir from home depot is not clear, as there are many knots apparent throughout the board, but the price was right for a prototype sculling oar. Why waste good wood on an oar that might not be the right fit for the job? What if I need a bend in the handle? What if the oar needs to be longer? This first oar will be a test, once I know what I want, I'll use good wood to make the real one.
Once the laminates are perfectly flush, Titebond III wood glue was applied to the top laminate and then firm clamping pressure was applied to fully mate the two surfaces.
Now the oar will remain in clamps for at least 24 hours before further work will continue on it.
