Hi all,

Well, it's not a dowel as such but a 1.8m long dinghy oar and I would
like to reduce the diameter of the shaft from 45 to 40mm (over about
1m).

I was wondering if there was any 'clever' way of doing it, without
requiring a lathe big enough etc but whilst retaining the
concentricity / straightness and with std d-i-y level tools?

One way I have thought of is to run the grip and near the blade in
some sort of basic 'bearing' and then use a router on a long slide
running up and down whilst turning the oar by hand?

Once down to the right diameter (plus a bit, too late for a spar gauge
[1]) I should be able to bring it back to the required finish by hand
with glass paper.

How do / did they do them in the boatyards pre automation or would
they always start off with some round timber?

Cheers, T i m

[1] Unless I fed it though a thicknesser (that I would have to rig up)
taking it back to a square section and back to round after that?