Since you're making these paddles from scratch, you can customize their size and length. You'll also spend a minimal amount of money in the process since you can recycle any types of scrap wood available.

Step 1: Prepare Your Wood

I used scrap wood, mainly old pallet wood. I set up the fence on my table saw to the width I wanted my pieces to be, then I ran my scraps through to get a bunch of pieces of uniform width.

Step 2: Glue Up!

I broke out some wood glue, making sure to get the waterproof kind. I glued all the pieces together and clamped them up nice and tight. I let that sit overnight.

I used a paint can to draw rounded corners on the top of the paddles, and a ruler to draw a taper where the paddle head meets the handle. Then I used my little bench top band saw.

Step 3: Thinning Out the Paddle

You want the center to be the thickest part, becoming thinner all the way out to the edges. I used the table saw to cut a grid all over the paddle head.

Then I came back with a planer to smoothed everything out a bit. I came at it with a belt sander and took it down even further.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

For the handle, I just added a couple of little blocks to each side with glue and clamps.

Rounding over the long part of the handle really proved to be the trickiest bit. Use a wood rasp to knock off all the corners and remove the bulk of the material.

Then sand the whole paddle.

I finished my paddles with some protective finish that you put on decking.

Have you made your own set of paddles from scrap wood?

Article & Photo Source: Instructables