DIY: Mash Paddle

http://www.2nobledogsbrewing.com/2013/09/10/diy-mash-paddle/

I’ve had a few folks ask me about the mash paddles I make and sell at
Original Gravity. I know the last ones went off the shelves months ago
and I haven’t had a chance to get them restocked. So, another brewer
reached out to me on Homebrewtalk.com asking if I still made them and
if so, would I be willing to ship it to him. I responded with a “yes, I still
make them” knowing full well I would have to force myself to make the
time to do it. This weekend was that time. I managed to cut several in
spite of the heat and they are drying right now.
As I started I knew I was not going to get a chance to make more for
quite some time so I decided to put together “how to” article so you can
cut you own if you so chose. Just so you know, they are very labor
intensive and time consuming.
That said, let’s get started.
The first thing you want to do is choose your wood. Maple, walnut, and
oak all work very well. But, there are plenty of others that would work
also. Just do your research to make sure it’s can be used for food grade
applications. For today I will be using reclaimed walnut.
I start by getting my tools together. I use a table saw, jig saw, router with
3/8” roundover bit, a cordless drill with hole saws (2” & 1 ¾”), a Dremel,
an orbital sander, and a can of Rotel Diced Tomatoes (yep…you read that
right). I’ll explain later.

Next I rough cutting the blank down to size. My paddles are 36” long x
3.5” wide x ¾” thick.

Once I’ve cut it to the rough dimensions I then draw the paddle on the
blank. This is where you will use the can of tomatoes. The paddle part is
16” long with 5 holes. I mark the center using a pattern and alternate 2”
and 1 ¾” holes. You can do whatever you want to here. Be creative! I
then draw a line at 2” from the handle end. In between the the 2” line and
the 16” line I draw the stem. This is 1 ½” wide. Once I have all the hard
lines drawn I take the can of tomatoes and use it to draw the rounded
corners. If you don’t have a can of Rotel you can use whatever you can
find. A Rotel can has a radius of 1 5/16” and works well.

You should now have the outline of a mash paddle drawn on your blank.
Now you are ready to cut it into a paddle. For this I use a jig saw with a
pretty aggressive blade. Walnut is hard and will dull a blade pretty quick.
At this point I will go ahead and cut the holes all the way through.

I now have a very rough cut paddle with plenty of bumps and blade
marks. I use the Dremel tool with a sanding barrel attachment to smooth
things out. This ensures that the router rides smooth along the edge.

Now that the edges are smooth I set the router bit to the correct height on
the router and roundover the edges. I then Dremel the insides of the holes
to smooth them out because the orbital sander will not fit.
 Now comes the fun part. SANDING! This part sucks but is the most
rewarding. I will usually start with 80 grit paper on my orbital sander,
then 110 grit and finish with 220 grit. DO NOT SKIP A STEP! If you try
to save time and effort by skipping a step you will never get the wood as
smooth as it needs to be. Once I finish sanding I clean everything off and
then wipe on two coats of tung oil. The tung oil needs to cure completely
so make sure you allow 2 weeks before using your paddle.
That’s it. You now have a sturdy mash paddle that will bust up dough
balls even in the thickest mashes. Have fun and happy brewing! Cheers!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/180129588/large-custom-mash-
paddle?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=housewares_mid&gclid=COu
Z5pWbkL0CFYMcOgodzl8APg

http://mashpaddles.com/

http://stonemountainstudios.com/mash-paddles/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Mash-Paddle-with-with-hop-shapped-cutouts-with-ba/