Those of you who have seen my earlier posts about my wind turbine no that I need a new and better set of blades. This past week I started that project with the purchase of 12 eight foot cedar 2x4 boards. Since this is my first attempt at blade carving I decided the best approach would be to do one blade completely from start to finish before working on the second and third. That way if I get it wrong then I've ruined one blade. The following is the sequence of work done so far.
The new blades will be just under five feet long for a machine slightly under 10' diameter. I used Alton's Blade Calculator for a TSR of 6. Pictured below is the stock wood laminated with West Marine epoxy.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_1.jpg)
Pictured below is the stock with an extra plank laminated on. It will give me some extra cord width at the root.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_2.jpg)
Pictured below is the stock with trailing edge taper cut away.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_2a.jpg)
Starting to cut away everything that does not look like a blade.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_2b.jpg)
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_3.jpg)
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_4.jpg)
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_5.jpg)
Here finishing sanding with a belt sander in progress...
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_6.jpg)
Here the front side shaping is complete. The brown "wet" area is epoxy mixed with sawdust that I had to use to fill in an area where the chisel cut too deeply. The extra epoxy will be sanded away. This is a mistake I'll be careful not to make on the other blades. Also there was a small void in the lamination at the tip I filled in with epoxy as well.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_7.jpg)
Here is another angle. I like this photo because it shows the "bowl" at the root where the drop is greatest. The front side shaping is complete. I've started rough cutting of the back side...
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_8.jpg)
Here is the unfinished back side... Give me a couple more days and my first blade should be finished.
![](http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/4772/b1_9.jpg)
That's all so far. In a few days I hope to have the first blade complete.
Rob