November 2018 (Page 5)

I did some Christmas shopping early on Etsy. I did it because of how rare it is to find an excellent paddle maker. Spanking paddles aren’t exactly mass-produced items. It’s true you can find them many places, but the quality is almost always disappointing. Over the years, I’ve bought my share of badly made, unbalanced spankers. I suppose it’s inevitable. The bottom line (See what I did there?) is that in order to make a good paddle, the maker must be an excellent craftsperson and, even more importantly, understand how the paddles will be used.

Paddles and whips are like tennis racquets. You can buy cheap ones that don’t quite fit your hand and swing in an unbalanced way. You can only play poorly with one of them. Then, there are the professional models that come in many sizes to exactly fit your grip and are perfectly balanced. You can have them strung with different materials so that you can tune the way you and the racquet hit the balls.

Spanking paddles are the same. Your hand must be able to comfortably grip the handle. The balance has to lead your stroke to hit just where you want. The face must be the right size to deliver the blows over the area you prefer, and the weight must match the amount of thud you want to deliver.

These factors are all considered by a skilled paddle maker. In my experience, the only paddles that are professional-grade are made explicitly for the person spanking. Now, it’s true in our case, I do most of the paddle shopping. I have decades of experience buying and using these implements. I also know how to give my lioness a good selection of effects she can produce.

Materials
Paddles can be made from many substances and in endless shapes and sizes. Most popular are wood models. You can also get rubber, plastic, and even metal spanking paddles. Mrs. Lion prefers classic wood. In my opinion, the best wood for paddles are dense, exotic, hardwoods. Woods like bloodwood and chechen are extremely dense. They aren’t popular for things like furniture because they are expensive and difficult to work with.  Since a paddle is one piece of wood, the craftsman just has to cut and finish it. No joinery is required.

As a spanker, I always preferred thick, dense-wood paddles. The weight helps improve the force of each blow. I’ve encouraged Mrs. Lion to to use these on me. They stand the best chance of leaving a lasting impression. Many of our paddles were made by John Hanson. He favored bloodwood for his creations. He also made paddles in other woods as well. I love the beauty of the wood and its heavy, dense grain. John’s thickest paddles are 1/2 – 5/8 – inches thick. They’re mean and will send a strong message. Leatherwerks has taken over making and selling John’s designs.

I like the new Etsy paddles from Spork Wood.  They are smooth, oiled exotic wood a full 3/4-inch thick. They offer a nice variety of shapes and sizes. They also have a wide range of woods from light ones like cherry, to the beastly chechen.

Quality, handmade paddles cost from about $30 USD to $100 or more. The Spork wood paddles are reasonably priced  You don’t need a lot of paddles. Though, many people who like being spanked can’t resist buying new ones. The key is to look for impact toys that are effective, safe-to-use, and comfortable to swing.