Seawolf
Well-Known Member
Here's what I made today. It'll be treated with Tung oil, which is FDA approved food safe and will preserve and waterproof. I went with a two-row design which I thought would be perfect for a mash paddle.
If you want pure tung oil, I recommend Real Milk Paint. Excellent products and they send some hard candy with every order!
I was considering buying a paddle, but I felt weird about spending $45 plus shipping for one. I figured that if I buy a jigsaw, and some lumber, I could make one for about $56 and essentially get a free jigsaw out of the deal.
I'm just concerned about that lower left thinness where the paddle meets the handle. Any chance of snapping?
Where do you get a nice maple board to make a paddle? HD and Lowes don't have it. I guess I could check the yellow pages to see if there are any specialty wood suppliers in the vicinity.
How big a piece of wood do you need? 3 feet by 4 inch by 1, or is 6 inch wide better?
Cool. Thanks Rich. I checked two HD's and one Lowe's down here in Dallas, and the only hardwood they had was oak, but I'll look for a specialty place. I'll get 1x6.
Hey, you must have a heck of a mash tun if you have a six foot long paddle!
I would be very cautious about using teak or other exotic hardwoods.
QFT. Rosewoods are also very oily. I wouldn't want to put them in my beer.I'd stay away from rosewoods for mash paddles. Some people are quite allergic to some of them. I can't work with cocobolo, for instance, without taking antihistamines.
Just dig a little deeper at Home Depot. They have maple, at least at my store. You might even try Ebay. They have all sorts of lumber.
My paddle is 29 X 3.5
Edit:
I just checked ebay, and I found some beautiful Rosewood. I'm not sure how that would hold up as a paddle, but it sure is nice to look at. How about Teak? If it's good enough for a WW2 Battleship deck, it's good enough for a mash. That stuff won't rot, spark, and acts as a non-skid walking surface even when wet!
I'm just concerned about that lower left thinness where the paddle meets the handle. Any chance of snapping?
The OP's paddle looks fine obviously the other one is fine because the guy has used it and it's still in one piece.
If its maple it is strong it will never break. Maybe if it were pine or spruce it would be an issue.
Those dough balls can be really tough. My next one will be forged in the depths of Mordor. The One Paddle
I think it's a great idea you have, sourmash, and I might be in for something like that. If it's something you could produce regularly, you might want to consider upgrading to a vendor account so you can advertise here on the site.
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