Big Slick

If not for the sea, we would have to carry our boats about.

Norwegian saying

For those who have followed my blog for awhile, you have seen this boat before.  I started it a couple years ago, and after a brief, well, a year long break, I am getting back into the boat shop ( garage) to finish it up this summer, come hell or high water.  When I was building it, I wanted to have a big slick but 1. I wasn't really sure how much I'd use one and 2. they are pretty spendy on Ebay, so when I saw an article on building one, I decided to.

The article called for a blade made from a leaf spring, so I got one from a friend and cut to length and then drilled and tapped the holes.  I've had a fair bit of experience tapping metal when I used to weld, but tapping this was tricky.  The steel is hard, not super hard but harder than most metals, so you have to drill a bigger hole and use lots of oil.  Even so, I broke one tap.  Below you can see the size of the tool.

The blade is held in place by screws, so I guess you could change out the blade to a straight one for timber framing work, but for my purposes, the sweep on the leaf spring works great because it clears the handle and allows  me to pare easily.

Here you can see how much sweep it has.

 I have yet to harden the blade,  but I am thinking at about 25º on the primary bevel will be about right.  Despite it's impressive size, it's a paring tool...the knob end rests in your shoulder and you push with whole body.  The handle is white ash but about any hardwood would work.  After syrup is over, I'm getting the boat back out, maybe three more weeks. 
 I am really looking forward to getting the boat in the water, should be a lot of fun.  I've read that the time spent in a boat is inversely proportional to the size of the boat...I hope this one is the perfect size.