Best wood for oars?

saltwater_gypsy said:
We want to make 12ft oars for a four-man rowing skiff.
There is a bit of debate regarding the best choice of wood for construction of oars.Douglas Fir looks to be the favourite but Larch, Spruce and Ash all have merits.
Any advice out there????
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The oars on my yacht tender [14 ft catamaran] are 3.7 metres. I picked up a couple of Windsurfer masts from recycle shop. Blades are ply covered with epoxy/cloth and carbon fibre. Hand grips timber.
 
For 12 ft oars for a four man rowing skiff you might be able to find a set of whaler oars & cut them down, they are generally about 15ft in length.
Also its worth looking on sites like Rachel quarrels Rowing service noticeboard, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~quarrell/noticeb.html,
Fine boat rowing clubs have a never ending arms race of equipment & secondhand carbon fibre oars can be purchased relatively cheaply, often for less than the cost of timber to make new ones. A year ago our club purchased 10 pairs of Hollow spruce macon sculling blades in excellent condition for £30 a pair, Carbon oars were £25 each. As new designs & trends come out the old gear gets pushed to the back of the rack & eventually they sell it of to make room for new kit.
 
Wod for oars: St Ayles skiff?

Hi SWG,

This, I believe, may be a request from a team building a St Ayles skiff, for coastal rowing racing? In the (still to be drafted) class rules, oars will require to be made of timber, and have no concave surface, all to encourage home building and prevent an expensive arms race. Therefore don't try cutting down windsurfer masts or buying up leftovers from Oxford v Cambridge. Stick to getting straight grained, knot free lengths of Sitka Spruce or Douglas Fir (I have tried rowing with ash oars: strong but too heavy for racing IMHO). If anyone has any other suggestions for wood though, keep them coming!

Good luck with the build. It looks like there are now 14 St Ayles skiffs ordered or in construction.

R
 
fisherman said:
We used to make them from Parana pine, for racing skiffs and working boats. (Heavy three man 15ft boats)
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Parana pine was a favourite choice for Finn Masts years ago. Chinese Fir is another timber that would suit. I modified a round Finn mast into the new aerofoil shape with Chinese Fir a few years back. Has very good bend characteristics. Its widely available at large supermarket style hardware stores in Australia, its that blond wood with lots of finger joints. Its a traditional Chinese boat building timber.
 
Thanks for the inputs thus far.
quote from Romeo "a team building a St Ayles skiff, for coastal rowing racing?"
That is correct . It is an Ian Oughtred design specifically designed for amateur construction in lapstrake plywood.
The oars are a particular problem as they should be built of "proper timber" and none of us has oar building experience!
It looks like Douglas Fir is emerging with the right combination of lightness and strength.
Thanks all
more details about the project can be found at: www.scottishcoastalrowing.org
 
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