Swiftcurrent Custom Oars

I’ve boated a lot of places, but love my home waters the best! The magical gin clear glacier milk aqua of the MF Flathead will always have my heart. I honed my whitewater kayaking skills here over 25 years ago, kayaked all over Flathead Lake, made innumerous raft trips when our girls were little and launched my dory on the Lower Flathead.
What is your home river, and why is it your favorite?

Really fun rebuild this winter. Glued all the cracks, new ash edges, thinned the tips and added walnut veneer and fiberglass tip protectors. Re-painted the logos, decoupage cutthroats and fresh varnish. The composite blade was broke in half so it got fixed and varnished.

Thanks to for the great photos!!

The Originals, ca 2002. I was a kayaker with a young family getting into rafting and couldn't afford composite oars, so I built a set with lumberyard douglas fir 2x10's.

Later I purchased composite oars and found them too stiff and hurt my shoulders, so I sold them shortly after. These oars have been down the Lochsa, MF Flathead, Alberton Gorge, and other western Montana rivers numerous times, 3x on the MFS, 2x on the Snake and still going strong 22 years later.

Rebuilt some old classics this spring. Filled the big splits with douglas fir wedges, epoxy saturated the dry rot, planed the edges straight and glued on new ash edges. Maple veneer tips (bivalve!), repainted the logo and painted some Happy Clams before 3 layers of fresh spar varnish.

Fixed a set of classic oars for a classic buddy of mine. Oars are probably older than I am, and I know the boatman is! His blades were badly cupped so I told him I'd give them some new life. Peeled off the old carbon, ground the rot off the shafts, overlaid with new ash faces on the shaft, and built spruce/cedar blades to match the design on his boat.

Dropped them at his house unannounced, but forgot to take finished pics!

Shaping handles on the oars I just glued up. Sawn to 1 5/8” square, then octagon, then round. I use a scrap of ply with 1 1/2”, 1 5/8”, and 2” arcs cut to check size and round. Love how these turned out.

Busy day in the shop: working on 2 new oars and 5 repairs.

Great to be back in the shop. Big pop of color with this veneer from