Oars are complete... I used Prisma colored pencils to complete the drawings, sprayed a fixure. I used a wood burning tool for the name "Sundew" on the loom and a small sketch of a wood duck taking off on the opposite oar. Applied six coats of spar varnish.
To leather the oars, I cut a squares of 6" by 6" leather each about 1/4" of wrapping around the shaft just below the loom, punched stitching holes (a 1/8" drill works as well) every 3/8" and about 3/16" from the edge. Next I soaked the leather for 15 minutes, than stitched them on using heavy waxed thread. I wrapped 1/2" wide leather strips as buttons and glued them on with Elmer's weather proof wood glue (clamps for one hour).
After a four hour row yesterday I'm very pleased with the oars. They are light, well balanced and the narrower blades still have plenty of bite. Hey and they look good! What's not to like :-).
