Moving this blog to Wordpress, Nov 2014

I am going to continue this blog on a new Wordpress site. I have got tired of the restrictions and changes that occur to the image library here on Blogspot. Google try to tie the whole thing too tightly to Google+ and I have just got fed up with it. The old posts will stay here, but if you want to read any new ones, Please hop over to:

http://jegsboat.wordpress.com/

Oars finished, just have to try them out now...

I've applied about 5 coats of linseed oil to the oars, and will probably put on many more. That s the beauty of oil.

Bought two off-cuts of leather from ebay. I think they are left over upholstery bits. I also found an excellent articles on Paul Gartside's website on how to stitch oar leathers on, Very detailed and I would have made a real mess if I hadn't read it first.  http://www.gartsideboats.com/faq/oar-leathers.html

Cutting the leather is slightly tricky, but it stretched nicely to fit. I didn't wet it as it was very soft already. Each leather needed about 50 holes punched on each long edge. These need to be done fairly carefully so that they match.

Stitching is with waxed whipping twine and two sail makers needles. I was worried the threads would pull right through the leather, but that never happened.

The oars fit in the boat nicely and I have made an arrangement of loops and bungies that I hope will hold them in place when towing