Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Big Chad Report: Packing Up and Coming Home


Forget New Car Smell, Try Fresh Cut Cedar

Fresh Cut: What does this fresh cut stack of cedar look like to you? Took a little trip to visit the in-laws. Coming home with a small stack of wood (it helps to have a cedar guy) from Oregon may not seem that out of place. I have never seen so many logging trucks in my life, the roads here are stocked full of them.

So what for? Cedar is most commonly used for decking, fences and siding. So why is it on paddlesurf.net? I am going to try my first attempt at a paddle. I am hoping to solve the problem of weak paddles that break within the first year (usually the first six months) of use. For some reason we all tend to destroy these paddles in record time as we attempt to push our comfort zones in this sport. Not quite sure how it's going to turn out or even how I am going to do it, but I am excited to try. Stay tuned for updates on how it goes. Who knows, someday you may want to use one of my wood paddles for their bullet proof durability. Or perhaps I will be left with a warped and twisted piece of what used to be a beautiful piece of fresh cut cedar. We will see!

Check back tomorrow for some fresh beach pics! As always, lessons are available, contact paddlelessons@gmail.com or 619-254-0354 and get your lesson on a day that works well for you.

6 comments:

Kelly Kraus said...

Hey Teach- isn't it "cedar" not "ceder"?

John Ashley said...

Hey Kelly!

Yep, cedar is the correct spelling!

Big Chad is so busted!!!!

Chad said...

Yeah I was doing that as the kids were crying and my wife was begging me to hurry up and load the car. The teach got caught on an easy one!

Anonymous said...

This sounds cool - can we get updates with photos along the way??

And why cedar? Is it stronger than other woods or what?

Chad said...

I chose cedar because I am hoping that it will allow for the flex that is needed and my father-in-law is a cedar guy so I am trying it out. Depending on how this goes I may be trying some other types of wood as well. Pictures will be coming. I am just waiting for the wood to dry out a little more. It was fresh cut when I got it.

Rashie said...

So, did you ever make a paddle??