: Exactly. My experience is that only 2-3% of the 2x4's I look through are
: suitable for paddle making. Granted, I'm picky, but I haven't had any
: paddles, break, either (knock on cedar).

Finding nice flat-sawn ones for resawing into lamination strips was no problem. I didnt look any further, as I was in a hurry. I'll go the 4x4 route for the SSTIKS blanks.

: That's been my experience, too. Is cedar typically kiln dried or just shipped
: as-is from the mill? It seems as if they don't do much to protect it in
: transit, perhaps because it's so rot resistant.

I'm not sure on this, but I think what they do is kiln-dry it and then leave it out in the rain. Dimensionally it seems pretty stable, and it's finished to 1-1/2 x 3-1/2, rough on one side. The resawn strips dried in a day at 110 degrees. The 2x4 is still in there, three days later, and I cant feel a weight difference. It'll hit the table saw pretty soon.

: BTW, I've had a couple of 2x4s split on the ends while drying, so I've taken
: to painting the end grain, just in case..

I had that problem a little, too, but for this particular application it fixed itself