My mash paddle

Finally got around to making a mash paddle.  I got tired of trying to stir the mash with my long (but not long enough) plastic spoon that comes with most homebrewing starter kits.

I went to a local lumber distributor and asked their opinion on a good hard wood to use that would be food safe.  He suggested cherry, ash, maple....I went with cherry.  I picked up an 1x4 8 footer so I still have some left over to make another one later

To start off I drew out my paddle.   Total length is 36" with the paddle section being 18".  I left the paddle width the complete 4".

You can faintly see my pencil markings on the board.  I drew my handle out to 1 1/2" and after everything was cut out I am happy with the width.  I just used a jigsaw and went real slow to cut out the shape and a hole saw to drill the holes.  I suppose you could leave it blank, with no holes, but I like the holes to help break up the grain dough balls when you're mashing in.

I just kinda randomly places holes. The bigger ones are 2" with the smaller ones being 1"

After being cut and drilled out I just sanded it down.  I've read that the wood can either be left alone or treated with butchers block oil.  I think for now I'm just going to leave it alone and see how it holds up.  I still need to get a new drum sander for my Dremel to finish out the insides of the holes.  Other than that I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Just need to break it in now!