New Hobby

Got it into my head to build my own Greenland Kayak paddle,  trip to the hardware store for all the neccessary "tools" because I am going to build this thing by hand, no power tools, with selection of block sanders, rasps and clamps in hand, I head home with a shinny new (straight) cedar 2x12 board with a nice section I can use for the paddle.  I clamp my board to the table, stand back and stare at it dumbfounded...  Now what....   Ok, I do have the plans and insructions but who am I kidding, I am so far from comfort zone I have no clue... 

Step 1, don't own many power tools, drill is about it, no table saw, no band saw, no skill saw, no jig saw and a crappy hand saw.  Say to self, "F this" I run out to get a jig saw and figure I will cut out the blank and then plane it down, instead of driving down the street and having it cut.  While I am at the store I know I need a new jack plane because the block plane will take too long, oh wait, power planer cheaper than the manual one, hmmm,  power it is..

I get home, hook up my Jigsaw, measure out everything and start cutting away,  easy as pie, just not straight,  get out my new planer and wow, the thing takes shape quickly and I have the rough outline of a paddle, and looks like a paddle, sort of...

Only thing less straight than my cuts would have to be the "straight" lines I drew for a guide, WTF, am I really that hopeless I can't draw a straight line between two points that were measured twice and used a damn ruler?  lines are straight yes, they just aren't equally positioned on all sides...  Requires a lot more block plane by hand to finish up the blank. 

Now onto the block planer, would think this is easy, the guys in the video just tear off the wood like it's made of butter, me, shit I can't even get the thing to catch the wood,  after about half an hour I finally start to figure out the adjustments and technique, call it a night.

My next phase will be to plane this paddle out as much as possible and then will start to carve the paddles and the handle... I have to figure this is going to take me much longer than expected, hope it turns out ok, because at this point, I have paid more in tools than I would have to go and buy one,  sort of defeats the purpose though...

Update when I have something to add...