BCVSP Picture Gallery - Viking Ship Oar Building Pictures

Hi there! Welcome to the Viking Ship oar building picture gallery!

Here's where you can check out the BC Viking Ship Project in action building oars to row our ship.

All thumbnail pictures are clickable and will bring up a full size picture.

About the pictures

These are a collection of pictures from the team that worked hard over the winter researching patterns and building oars.

The first step in making an oar is to lay out the rough shape on a prepared blank and cut to the lines. We used circular saws at first, but later got a band saw on site which made everything a whole lot easier. © Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Here is a close-up of a rough shaped oar. In the background you can see a few oars in various stages of completeness. © Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

The oar blades have an asymmetrical cross section. This makes for a strong oar and easy flow through the water. © Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Rounding the oars were done with hand tools like this spoke shave for some of the first ones. Later, power planers were used to speed things up. Still, there's a lot of hand work involved in making oars. © Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

Sometimes the good old Norwegian Steam is the only way to go, even if there's a Swede at the business end... A smooth handle prevents blisters. That's probably more of a concern for the soft hands of a modern Viking than for our ancestors. © Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

The finished oar has a nice, sleek look to it. Like it is just waiting for some salt water to bite into... © Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

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