The week finished with further steps completed in my oar making project. Using the bollow plane I made in the joinery course, and a couple of other bollow planes, I scalloped out the blade.

With the spar gauge I had also made in the joinery course, I marked out and then planed the corners of the loom (shaft of the oar), Turing it from a four-sided piece of wood to an eight sided piece.

Then, I used a spokeshave to shape the back of the blade.

At close of play, I had started the process of melding blade to loom. This is going to be a tricky bit of sculpture. The loom is oval in cross-section as it meets the blade, and I need to get the edges of the blade to flow fairly into the loom .

The joy of doing this is tempered by the fear of making a mistake … take care, Stuart, don’t rush … just a little at a time!