Oar Collars
Moderator: Jim Walsh
- wikakaru
- Posts: 837
- Joined: Jan 13th, '18, 16:19
- Location: 1980 Typhoon #1697 "Dory"; 1981 CD22 #41 "Arietta"
Oar Collars
This year I have had the opportunity to work with three different types of oar collars--plastic, leather, and rope--and I thought you all might benefit from my experience.
For several years I have been using plastic oar collars like these: https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-OAR-C ... B00144CWF2. The advantages of these collars is that they are inexpensive (Defender sells them for $15 per pair), durable, and easy to install. The disadvantages are that they are short (about 4 inches), need to be kept lubricated or they tend to bind, and they use small nails to keep them in place which puts holes in the oars. If you want to remove them, for example to varnish underneath the collar, you have to remove the nails, and then when you re-install them, you put more nail holes in the oar. Can you say “break on the dotted line” boys and girls?
Note: because plastic collars are so short, you have to position them so that the oarlocks bear right next to the button. (The "button" is the raised part that keeps the oarlocks from sliding off the oar collars.) With leather and rope collars, you want the oarlocks to bear on the middle of the collar while rowing, and the button just keeps the oarlocks from falling off when you are carrying or stowing the oars, but take no load when rowing. The second type of oar collar I used this year is oar leathers. The advantages of leathers are that they don’t damage the oars, they are easily removable, and they look traditional as all get-out. The disadvantages are some extra work, and they may be pricey if you don’t have leather laying around. This year I bought a leather oar kit from Shaw & Tenney for my 9-foot sculling oar. (https://www.shawandtenney.com/productdi ... eather-kit). It was $49 (plus shipping, handling, and tax) for the kit. It has all the materials you need to cover one pair of oars, plus needles, but not a leather punch.
Shaw & Tenney have a nice video on their web site (https://youtu.be/B2zzvjcEilQ) that shows you how to do it, but they left a few items out that would have been helpful to know beforehand. Learn from my experience:
* For rowing oars, the stitching should be in line with the edge of the blade, as Shaw & Tenney explain in their video. For sculling** oars (that is, for single oars used on the transom of a boat), the stitching should be in line with the broad part of the blade, i.e. 90 degrees from the position of a rowing oar.
* The hole punch they show on the video is specially made for the job. I used a simple awl. Actually it was an ice pick, but it was "awl" I had on hand. (Feel free to groan at the bad pun.) Ice picks and awls are was tapered, and if you only punch the holes from one side of the leather, you won’t be able to get the needles through. Ask me how I know. Punch the holes from both sides of the leather, or use a non-tapered punch.
* On the second set of stitching (working your way back down the leather), the needle has to be poked into the holes exactly perpendicular to the oar shaft and pushed in fully before angling the point toward the center. Otherwise you just end up pushing the needle into the leather instead of through the hole. The guy on the video has done it a thousand times and makes it look easy. It isn’t--at least not when you get away from the end and everything is drawn up pretty tight.
* The twine Shaw & Tenney supplies in the kit is on the short side. I really could have used an extra foot or two of twine. Consider purchasing your own for the job and making it about 7-8 feet long. The third type of oar collar I tried this year is a rope whipping. Whipping is cheap. I paid $4 for 50 feet of 1/8" nylon at my local hardware store. It is easy to do and easy to remove. I'm not sure how durable it will be; I will have to let you know next year. There are lots of nice videos on YouTube. Here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHoCpBqhGU. This guy has a lathe to hold and spin the oar, so this video makes it look much easier than it is by hand. I needed about 45 feet of 1/8-inch nylon line for an 8-inch wrap. Wear gloves. I didn’t, and still have the blisters to prove it. Pay attention to the magic little bit about how to tuck the end in. Otherwise it’s pretty straightforward.
An easy way to add a button (the raised part that keeps the oarlock from falling off) to a whipped collar is to use a turk’s head knot. I used this video to show me how to tie it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlqKtPWHAXk. The video kind of leaves you hanging, and doesn’t show you how to tighten down the knot, so here’s what you need to know in addition to the video:
* You will need about 9-10 feet of 1/4 inch rope for each knot.
* Start by tying the knot very loosely so you have room to weave the end of the knot in and out. I didn’t use a fid (the only fids I have are much too long to use for this purpose), but if you tie it loosely you don’t need one.
* When the knot is complete, tighten it onto the oar shaft by starting at the beginning of the knot and following the line along, tugging on it with a pair of needle nose pliers and pulling the slack out. Work your way all the way from the beginning of the rope to the end of the rope, making sure you don’t get “lost” and miss any loops. Tighten it very tightly the first time and you only need to do it once. If you have to do the process a second time it is very difficult. Ask me how I know.
* If the knot is tight enough, you can just tug a little bit on each end and cut the tails off flush. Simple. Oar collars aren’t specific to Cape Dories, but almost every boat has a pair of oars for the dinghy, so I thought you might appreciate my experience.
Smooth sailing,
Jim
** Don't ask me why, but the term "sculling" has two quite contrary definitions. In common parlance, "rowing" is using two oars together, one on each side of the boat, while "sculling" is using a single oar at the transom of the boat using a back-and-forth ("falling leaf" or "figure 8") stroke. In crew rowing like you see on the Olympics, "rowing" means that each person pulls on only one oar, while "sculling" means that each person pulls on two oars. Arrgh.
For several years I have been using plastic oar collars like these: https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-OAR-C ... B00144CWF2. The advantages of these collars is that they are inexpensive (Defender sells them for $15 per pair), durable, and easy to install. The disadvantages are that they are short (about 4 inches), need to be kept lubricated or they tend to bind, and they use small nails to keep them in place which puts holes in the oars. If you want to remove them, for example to varnish underneath the collar, you have to remove the nails, and then when you re-install them, you put more nail holes in the oar. Can you say “break on the dotted line” boys and girls?
Note: because plastic collars are so short, you have to position them so that the oarlocks bear right next to the button. (The "button" is the raised part that keeps the oarlocks from sliding off the oar collars.) With leather and rope collars, you want the oarlocks to bear on the middle of the collar while rowing, and the button just keeps the oarlocks from falling off when you are carrying or stowing the oars, but take no load when rowing. The second type of oar collar I used this year is oar leathers. The advantages of leathers are that they don’t damage the oars, they are easily removable, and they look traditional as all get-out. The disadvantages are some extra work, and they may be pricey if you don’t have leather laying around. This year I bought a leather oar kit from Shaw & Tenney for my 9-foot sculling oar. (https://www.shawandtenney.com/productdi ... eather-kit). It was $49 (plus shipping, handling, and tax) for the kit. It has all the materials you need to cover one pair of oars, plus needles, but not a leather punch.
Shaw & Tenney have a nice video on their web site (https://youtu.be/B2zzvjcEilQ) that shows you how to do it, but they left a few items out that would have been helpful to know beforehand. Learn from my experience:
* For rowing oars, the stitching should be in line with the edge of the blade, as Shaw & Tenney explain in their video. For sculling** oars (that is, for single oars used on the transom of a boat), the stitching should be in line with the broad part of the blade, i.e. 90 degrees from the position of a rowing oar.
* The hole punch they show on the video is specially made for the job. I used a simple awl. Actually it was an ice pick, but it was "awl" I had on hand. (Feel free to groan at the bad pun.) Ice picks and awls are was tapered, and if you only punch the holes from one side of the leather, you won’t be able to get the needles through. Ask me how I know. Punch the holes from both sides of the leather, or use a non-tapered punch.
* On the second set of stitching (working your way back down the leather), the needle has to be poked into the holes exactly perpendicular to the oar shaft and pushed in fully before angling the point toward the center. Otherwise you just end up pushing the needle into the leather instead of through the hole. The guy on the video has done it a thousand times and makes it look easy. It isn’t--at least not when you get away from the end and everything is drawn up pretty tight.
* The twine Shaw & Tenney supplies in the kit is on the short side. I really could have used an extra foot or two of twine. Consider purchasing your own for the job and making it about 7-8 feet long. The third type of oar collar I tried this year is a rope whipping. Whipping is cheap. I paid $4 for 50 feet of 1/8" nylon at my local hardware store. It is easy to do and easy to remove. I'm not sure how durable it will be; I will have to let you know next year. There are lots of nice videos on YouTube. Here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHoCpBqhGU. This guy has a lathe to hold and spin the oar, so this video makes it look much easier than it is by hand. I needed about 45 feet of 1/8-inch nylon line for an 8-inch wrap. Wear gloves. I didn’t, and still have the blisters to prove it. Pay attention to the magic little bit about how to tuck the end in. Otherwise it’s pretty straightforward.
An easy way to add a button (the raised part that keeps the oarlock from falling off) to a whipped collar is to use a turk’s head knot. I used this video to show me how to tie it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlqKtPWHAXk. The video kind of leaves you hanging, and doesn’t show you how to tighten down the knot, so here’s what you need to know in addition to the video:
* You will need about 9-10 feet of 1/4 inch rope for each knot.
* Start by tying the knot very loosely so you have room to weave the end of the knot in and out. I didn’t use a fid (the only fids I have are much too long to use for this purpose), but if you tie it loosely you don’t need one.
* When the knot is complete, tighten it onto the oar shaft by starting at the beginning of the knot and following the line along, tugging on it with a pair of needle nose pliers and pulling the slack out. Work your way all the way from the beginning of the rope to the end of the rope, making sure you don’t get “lost” and miss any loops. Tighten it very tightly the first time and you only need to do it once. If you have to do the process a second time it is very difficult. Ask me how I know.
* If the knot is tight enough, you can just tug a little bit on each end and cut the tails off flush. Simple. Oar collars aren’t specific to Cape Dories, but almost every boat has a pair of oars for the dinghy, so I thought you might appreciate my experience.
Smooth sailing,
Jim
** Don't ask me why, but the term "sculling" has two quite contrary definitions. In common parlance, "rowing" is using two oars together, one on each side of the boat, while "sculling" is using a single oar at the transom of the boat using a back-and-forth ("falling leaf" or "figure 8") stroke. In crew rowing like you see on the Olympics, "rowing" means that each person pulls on only one oar, while "sculling" means that each person pulls on two oars. Arrgh.
Re: Oar Collars
Jim, Nice summary on the different type of oar treatments. The one thing I would add is that there are alternatives to the Shaw and Tenney leather kit, which I thought was a bit pricy for what you received. I sourced leather and a set of leather punches on Amazon and ended up spending less then half of what the Shaw and Tunney kit cost. The video is a good introduction to stitching up the oars but I would suggest looking up other videos on the baseball stitch that will clarify things for those of us unfamiliar with it. Here’s a picture of my oars, I made my leathers about 20 inches long and had enough for two oars a a bit left over to make a hatchet cover from the material I bought on Amazon.
Tom
CD 300MS “Heart of Gold”
Tom
CD 300MS “Heart of Gold”
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Re: Oar Collars
Good stuff Jim. You coved all the bases nicely. My stitching is oriented exactly as you describe. Sculling oar perpendicular to blade and rowing oars parallel.
I used leather I bought on my own. I punched the leather with an awl using a ruler to ensure exact spacing. I punched from both sides. No issues. I used waxed sail thread. About #8 I think. Easy baseball stitch.
I believe leather is superior to all the other chafing guards. The reason is leather can be lubricated. Not only can it be lubricated, it should be lubricated. I use tallow made for rowing. The tallow absolutely transforms the oars. The reduction in friction is amazing. I lubricate the shank of the oar lock, the the round inside circumference of the oar lock, and of course the leather itself.
So far as I know this is the best tallow available: https://oarsmanmarinetallow.com/. I have had the oarsman basic two part marine packet for about 8 years.
I used leather I bought on my own. I punched the leather with an awl using a ruler to ensure exact spacing. I punched from both sides. No issues. I used waxed sail thread. About #8 I think. Easy baseball stitch.
I believe leather is superior to all the other chafing guards. The reason is leather can be lubricated. Not only can it be lubricated, it should be lubricated. I use tallow made for rowing. The tallow absolutely transforms the oars. The reduction in friction is amazing. I lubricate the shank of the oar lock, the the round inside circumference of the oar lock, and of course the leather itself.
So far as I know this is the best tallow available: https://oarsmanmarinetallow.com/. I have had the oarsman basic two part marine packet for about 8 years.
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- wikakaru
- Posts: 837
- Joined: Jan 13th, '18, 16:19
- Location: 1980 Typhoon #1697 "Dory"; 1981 CD22 #41 "Arietta"
Re: Oar Collars
Thanks, Tom! I'd be interested in links to the leather and the punches that you ordered on Amazon. There are a lot of different thicknesses and finishes of leather available and a lot of different kinds and sizes of punches. If you bought a multi-punch kit or revolving punch pliers, which size did you use? The one advantage of the Shaw & Tenney kit was that I didn't have to figure out which kind of leather and twine to buy. In the future it would be nice to be able to do a more affordable leather collar.tburkett wrote:Jim, Nice summary on the different type of oar treatments. The one thing I would add is that there are alternatives to the Shaw and Tenney leather kit, which I thought was a bit pricy for what you received. I sourced leather and a set of leather punches on Amazon and ended up spending less then half of what the Shaw and Tunney kit cost. The video is a good introduction to stitching up the oars but I would suggest looking up other videos on the baseball stitch that will clarify things for those of us unfamiliar with it. Here’s a picture of my oars, I made my leathers about 20 inches long and had enough for two oars a a bit left over to make a hatchet cover from the material I bought on Amazon.
Tom
CD 300MS “Heart of Gold”
Smooth sailing,
Jim
- wikakaru
- Posts: 837
- Joined: Jan 13th, '18, 16:19
- Location: 1980 Typhoon #1697 "Dory"; 1981 CD22 #41 "Arietta"
Re: Oar Collars
It will be interesting to see in a year or so how the rope wrapping and leather hold up compared to each other. To me the rope wrapping was a bit easier to do than the leather stitching, though re-doing the stitching once the holes are punched will be less work. If I am diligent and re-varnish the oars every year (it remains to be seen if I actually will be that diligent) then I should be removing and replacing the collars annually.John Stone wrote:Good stuff Jim. You coved all the bases nicely. My stitching is oriented exactly as you describe. Sculling oar perpendicular to blade and rowing oars parallel.
I used leather I bought on my own. I punched the leather with an awl using a ruler to ensure exact spacing. I punched from both sides. No issues. I used waxed sail thread. About #8 I think. Easy baseball stitch.
I believe leather is superior to all the other chafing guards. The reason is leather can be lubricated. Not only can it be lubricated, it should be lubricated. I use tallow made for rowing. The tallow absolutely transforms the oars. The reduction in friction is amazing. I lubricate the shank of the oar lock, the the round inside circumference of the oar lock, and of course the leather itself.
So far as I know this is the best tallow available: https://oarsmanmarinetallow.com/. I have had the oarsman basic two part marine packet for about 8 years.
I know what you mean about lubricating. The plastic collars that I used for years absolutely had to be lubricated or it was nearly impossible to feather the oars with each stroke. The difference between unlubricated and lubricated rowing was amazing. I tried lots of different things, from SailKote to WD-40, vegetable oil to Vasoline, and while they all worked reasonably well as lubricants, none of them lasted very long in the weather--maybe a few weeks at most. How often do you have to re-apply the tallow on your leathers? What's the deal with two-part tallow? I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of tallow.
Smooth sailing,
Jim
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- Joined: Oct 6th, '08, 07:30
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Re: Oar Collars
I have used vegetable tanned and chrome tanned leather. I prefer chrome tanned. I think it holds up better when it routinely gets wet and then baked in the sun. Those are the two main kinds of leather choices. Also you don't want split leather. Split leather is suede on both sides...not what you want. I recommend you visit the Tandy leather site. Lots of great info about leather and they sell basic leather tools too. Also, they have interesting videos.wikakaru wrote:It will be interesting to see in a year or so how the rope wrapping and leather hold up compared to each other. To me the rope wrapping was a bit easier to do than the leather stitching, though re-doing the stitching once the holes are punched will be less work. If I am diligent and re-varnish the oars every year (it remains to be seen if I actually will be that diligent) then I should be removing and replacing the collars annually.John Stone wrote:Good stuff Jim. You coved all the bases nicely. My stitching is oriented exactly as you describe. Sculling oar perpendicular to blade and rowing oars parallel.
I used leather I bought on my own. I punched the leather with an awl using a ruler to ensure exact spacing. I punched from both sides. No issues. I used waxed sail thread. About #8 I think. Easy baseball stitch.
I believe leather is superior to all the other chafing guards. The reason is leather can be lubricated. Not only can it be lubricated, it should be lubricated. I use tallow made for rowing. The tallow absolutely transforms the oars. The reduction in friction is amazing. I lubricate the shank of the oar lock, the the round inside circumference of the oar lock, and of course the leather itself.
So far as I know this is the best tallow available: https://oarsmanmarinetallow.com/. I have had the oarsman basic two part marine packet for about 8 years.
I know what you mean about lubricating. The plastic collars that I used for years absolutely had to be lubricated or it was nearly impossible to feather the oars with each stroke. The difference between unlubricated and lubricated rowing was amazing. I tried lots of different things, from SailKote to WD-40, vegetable oil to Vasoline, and while they all worked reasonably well as lubricants, none of them lasted very long in the weather--maybe a few weeks at most. How often do you have to re-apply the tallow on your leathers? What's the deal with two-part tallow? I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of tallow.
Smooth sailing,
Jim
I never remove the leathers. I started with vegetable tanned on the oars but they were a little short as it was all I had on hand when I made them. I replaced them with chromed leather and those chafing guards have been on about four years. Still in great shape.
The Swanson two part tallow system consist of two kinds of tallow. One tin has a little beeswax mixed in with the tallow. You first apply the straight tallow and rub it in then apply the mix with beeswax. Basically will last about 4-6 months. I apply a little tallow just from the tip of my finger to the inside of the oar locks and the shaft every few days to keep them well lubricated. The leather holds the tallow well but you have to reapply to the bronze when you feel friction. When I am on the boat I am rowing a lot and I want the moving parts lubricated.
I have purchased leather from a couple different sources but have had good luck with Seattle Fabrics.
https://www.seattlefabrics.com/
- wikakaru
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- Joined: Jan 13th, '18, 16:19
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Re: Oar Collars
Thanks for all the great information, John!
--Jim
--Jim