The wife is a pretty good wood worker. She had this piece of oak laying around. It use to be an old table leg or something. So she made me the paddle. 2.5 inches wide, 2 feet of leather space plus the handle. I went to my friends cobblers shop he had this real nice piece of leather. He then used their heavy duty shoe repair contact cement and glued it down for me. So I am now ready to give my straight a try.