Found a Video Online

I found a video on line on how to make a spanking paddle. If you want to see it, go to www.thecarmicaelworkshop.com. The video is about 5 minutes long. A couple of observations: The man who made the video has invested a lot of money in woodworking tools. He is very skilled in woodworking. I doubt if most of us would be able to get the same results he does, unless we are willing to invest a lot of money and time.

My dad was a shop teacher when I was young (before he went on to "bigger and better" things). One of the first projects that every student (99.9% of his students were the out of control boys) was their own paddle. From the stories he used to tell, almost every one of those students felt the sting of their own paddle. Paddles themselves are not difficult to make - having access to that equipment is. I won't gain such access until my dad passes away. Mr. Carmichael's skill, although wonderful, and I am a huge fan of his YouTube channel, is more for display purposes and not for the functionality of a paddle.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

If you have the tools then a paddle isn't hard to make - it's basically a planed piece of wood cut to shape - like a rectangular cutting block with a handle. Incidentally, a chopping block was one of the first projects we made when I went to school - but I heard rumours that a few years before I took shop they used to make paddles.

And if a class of boys that age made paddles, then I'm sure they would all feel a swat or two - because the boys would swing them at each other because that's what boys that age would do with a paddle.

Here's a direct link to that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq4CoI9Pj10

Personally, if I were in the market for a well made paddle, I would just go online, find a paddle site and buy it. When I was in Jr. High, mid to late 60's the paddles were all made in either wood shop or the industrial crafts shop. I doubt that these are included as the many projects anymore, although in many high schools and middle schools (as they are called now) in the South may still be engaged in these types of projects.

Believe it or not, my elementary school had an industrial arts shop for boys. That's part of the reason I grew up knowing how to "do things" for myself, long before Home Depot. It had all of the normal wood shop things, but our teacher always stressed practical things. For example, we practiced repairing the guts in a real toilet tank and fixing real working faucets.

And paddles? Yes they were made there. Some students made them to take home, and the shop was the school's source of paddles. Only certain of the school's staff seemed to be authorized to paddle, and the shop teacher was one of them. I suppose that's the benefit of being the school's source of paddles.

I don't remember shop until getting to Jr. High (mid-late 60's) Yes, our shop teachers were all authorized to paddle. We had this small Japanese industrial arts teacher. Mr. Ishikawa. He was small but considered the hardest swatter in the school. One day he asked a boy in class (only boys in shop class back then) "why did you do that?" (I can't remember specifically what he did). The boy replied "why did you bomb Pearl Harbor?" It didn't go well for the boy. Mr. Ishikawa would get a running start and used both hands. I can't remember how many swats he got, maybe 2 or 3. He was in tears. I guess you could say not the response Mr. Ishikawa was looking for.

The first project I made in woodwork in secondary school ( 12-13years old) was a cheeseboard, base from Abura wood and separate handle from Imbuya (a type of walnut).
It would have packed a fearsome punch, the base being about 12" long and 5/8" thick, but it was never used (not even for cheese, as we weren't that sort of family).

I still remember the teacher marking it and not giving me an A because it was assymetrical and the line of the handle didn't go through the centre of mass, so it tended to twist in the hand. No so good as a spanking implement either then.