Making oars for Sleipnir!

We’re getting close to finishing! This video shows the hull after we cleaned the planks with acid (!!) and neutralized with ammonia… That treatment got rid of the blotchy weathering that built up over time, and needed to be cleaned before we could varnish. We chose chemical treatment over sanding because it’s very difficult to sand the planks with all the rivets: we would have had to go carefully round each rivet which is impossible, and the finish wouldn’t have been good. So, she’s now ready for varnishing!

The main subject of the video is to show how we made oars. We started with 2×6 boards, cut them into square 1 3/4″ lengths, and ran those through a big round-over router bit to take the corners off and so we ended up with round shafts for the oars. To those we glued blocks which we then carved into the shape of the blades. Each oar takes 2-3 hours to make, and they weigh only about 4-5 pounds, so they’ll be easy to handle.

We’re getting quite close to finishing her, next is the varnishing and after that all that remains is completing the rig: we have to shape the mast and make the stays that hold the mast up, as well as place the cleats to which we’ll tie the various lines that control the sail.

Stay tune for more, soon!

Thanks for following us!

Tom