New mash paddle

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.

Looks awesome! great job...

Man, that is definitely one of the best looking mash paddles I've ever seen. Great job!

What kind of wood is it? How'd you cut the two-row design?

How much you wanna sell it for?

Very nice!

When you decide to start mass producing them, I'm first in line.

wow! thats one beautiful paddle!

+1 on the mass production. i'm good for one.

That's pretty sweet...I do worry about the very thin areas of wood in between the openings, though. Looks a little like mine...I made one awhile back that's similar, but took a lot less work, obviously, because I just cut circular holes and then used a flush roundover router bit on the holes:



I never treated it with anything, even tung oil, just because "FDA Approved" doesn't mean "Beer Approved". I worry about any oils coming into contact with my wort, what with head retention, etc., so I just used a dense hardwood species (curly maple) and sanded it to 1000 grit. I've used it a few dozen times and it cleans up real nice. IIWY, I wouldn't use any oil or treatment...that is, unless that wood species is an open grain softwood.

I build guitars and use tung oil quite a bit. I'd probably use salad bowl oil or something similar on a mash paddle.

The "tung oil finish" that you'll usually find, is most likely a blend of tung oil and other stuff, usually mineral oil and possibly some petroleum-based products.

Looks great!

If you want pure tung oil, I recommend Real Milk Paint. Excellent products and they send some hard candy with every order!

Nice looking paddle- and I have the same reservations about the thin wood between the cutouts.

EDIT: I just hit a mini-milestone with 100 posts! MOD EDIT: Fight Club.

I like that a lot...maybe i will make my own too.

flyangler18 said:

If you want pure tung oil, I recommend Real Milk Paint. Excellent products and they send some hard candy with every order!

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I ordered!!

I used maple, and I pressure tested the paddle with my hands, and the outer edge is what really counts. It's 1/3" all the way around, and strong as an ox.

Tung oil is exactly what is used on salad bowls. Once purchased, salad bowls should be maintained with mineral oil.

Tung oil cures with oxidation, and will not leech into food, or a mash for that matter. I'm not really worried about oil and head retention. Oil doesn't break surface tension like soap would. Plus, hop oils are present in beer and doesn't affect the head. Furthermore, New Belgium uses olive oil for aeration with no ill effects.

The paddle assembly went like this:

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 drew up some plans on a piece of paper, and fiddled around with barley shapes and configurations. Once I drew my plans onto the actual maple, I cut a barley template out of paper, and traced it onto the wood. The shape and size just happened to be perfect, and I got two beautiful rows of kernels. I drilled starter holes at the corners of each kernel, and used my rotary jigsaw to make my cuts.

Note: I've never used a jigsaw before this morning.

I thoroughly sanded everything to shape and smooth, starting with 40 grit, and working up to 2000. This puppy is smoooooth! Feels like glass.

Thank you all for your kind words. If I had a way to mass produce these, I totally would.

I would totally commission your work. Shoot me a PM and we can sort out the details.

I'm just concerned about that lower left thinness where the paddle meets the handle. Any chance of snapping?

slyngshot said:

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.

Click to expand...

Homebrewer logic if I ever heard it!

Fantastic paddle. Love the design.

Bobby_M said:

I'm just concerned about that lower left thinness where the paddle meets the handle. Any chance of snapping?

Click to expand...

The picture makes it look thinner than it really is. That there is some really strong wood! I made sure to choose some hard maple. It's not like I'm beating freshmen with this thing. I'm just stirring barley and water!

I like it. It beats my $3.00 AHS plastic mash paddle any day.

That is a very beautiful paddle. I bet it will be a useful addition to your brewery. Nice job!

I made a paddle myself based on Evan!'s design. It has worked quite well for me. Thanks Evan!

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?

billtzk said:

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?

Click to expand...

I purchased the maple for mine at Home Depot. Any specialty wood store will also Carry maple. I think I got a board that was a 1 X 6 and 6' long. I actually made 2 paddles out of the board I purchased and gave one to my best friend.

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!

billtzk said:

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!

Click to expand...

Oak will be less than ideal because it is so porous.

Like I said, I made 2 paddles out of that 6 foot board! No need for paddle envy. It's just a normal average size...

Here's the one I made. Like I said, Evan! gets the credit for the design. I just modified the handle and I made it a little less rounded.

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!

Great paddle!

Also an excellent choice of woods. Hard maple is just that-quite hard. It is also non-toxic. My Menards sells only soft maple, so I buy hard maple at a local woodworking shop. (I just started brewing this year. I've done woodworking as a hobby for 30 years).

I would be very cautious about using teak or other exotic hardwoods. Teak is very oily. It is hard to glue in woodworking because of that oil. It would continue to leach those oils into the boil for quite a while. Also, the reason some of those woods do not rot is that they are toxic to bugs, and potentially to us as well. That may not be an issue when they are handled, but can be an issue even when they are machined and you are making dust. Remember that you are mashing to extract chemicals from the stuff in the pot--this could include your exotic paddle.

Oak could work, but is ring porous, so has lots of extra surface to interact with the wort. Your first few batches with it may get oak flavor from it, depending on contact with the hot mash.

Like I said earlier, the hard maple was a great choice.

ThreeDogsNE said:

I would be very cautious about using teak or other exotic hardwoods.

Click to expand...

Does that include Rosewood as well? I would love to make a rosewood paddle.

I'm making a paddle for Flyangler18, and depending on how it goes, I might make a few more as there was some interest shown. I'll keep everyone posted with the progress.

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.

Rick500 said:

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.

Click to expand...

QFT. Rosewoods are also very oily. I wouldn't want to put them in my beer.

Go with maple or cherry. Well-proven woods for food contact.

-Joe

slyngshot said:

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!

Click to expand...

I don't think all HDs have exactly the same stock. I checked four HDs that are near me in Dallas just last week. I dug and I asked. No maple at any of them. One had some maple veneer plywood on order, but no hardwood. I guess inventory varies by region.

But I found plenty of suppliers of hardwood in the yellow pages, so I'm good.

Bobby_M said:

I'm just concerned about that lower left thinness where the paddle meets the handle. Any chance of snapping?

Click to expand...

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.

brewjunky said:

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.

Click to expand...

Those dough balls can be really tough. My next one will be forged in the depths of Mordor. The One Paddle

Seawolf said:

Those dough balls can be really tough. My next one will be forged in the depths of Mordor. The One Paddle

Click to expand...

Wow that was bad, you must atone. :cross:

I did a quick search to see what the latest mash paddle discussion and found this one to be the most recent. I am in the middle of building my first brew rig and am going to make a mash paddle soon. After reading all the posts here I picked up some good info. Nice looking paddles for sure. I run a part time business making rustic furniture and could very easily make some nice hardwood paddles for a group purchase for the members of this board if anyone is interested. The build will be all one piece design out of a native hardwood. Probably maple, walnut, or cherry. All tight grained hardwood that would work well. The paddles would all have 3/8" rounded corners including the paddle cut out areas. The material will be 3/4" in thickness. I need to come up with a decent design for the paddle end. I do like this design
I am looking for suggestions though. I will treat these with a quick coat of a food grade oil before shipping.
I am going to keep the cost around $35 plus shipping via UPS ground. With the group buy, I would like to see at least 10 people in on it. I can set up payment via PayPal.

Let me know if this sounds like something of interest...

I prefer the traditional design that's been in use for hundreds of years and probably much longer than that. I think they used mostly maple, but probably any dense hardwood will work. I'd skip the oil finish. It isn't necessary and won't last very long after repeated immersion in the hot wort:





These are already being sold at something around $25 or so. Can you produce a good paddle in that price range?

I could produce something like that in a one piece design and keep the price around $35.

I would be in on the group by. Would like the bottom to be squared up for scraping the bottom

Great idea with the squared up bottom. I will run off a prototype this weekend and post several pictures.
I for got to mention that I was going to build these 3ft long.

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.

Can you use mineral oil on paddles like this??

llazy_llama said:

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.

Click to expand...

My bad! I'm am relatively new to this site. I have upgraded my account and if the business demand is great enough there is no doubt I will upgrade to a vendor account. My primary business is rustic furniture. I am headed to the shop now for a prototype.

I have a photo in my gallery of a paddle that I made. Let me know your thoughts.... The bottom of the paddle is 8" across and I left the edge at 90 degrees for scraping the bottom of the brew kettles. I basically inverted the traditional paddle design.

Just an update on my paddle. After 25 or so batches, it's still in one piece, and the Tung Oil treatment still looks great. It hasn't affected my head retention, or lost any of it's luster by being exposed to hot wort.

Skip the mineral oil, and try Tung oil.