Wood Meets Design

Customer Questions

I've been trying to research online, but I haven't had much luck. In terms of impact, use, etc, what are the differences in the various paddle types you sell (e.g., swatter, boudoir, etc)? Additionally, what are the differences in the types of wood you use?

All Things Being Equal

The topic can be a bit complicated, which is why we believe defining them is typically avoided. However, if we first establish a starting point, we can minimize the complexity. First, let’s assume that the paddles are all making contact uniformly and consistently (at the same time along the full face of the paddle). Second, lets assume a uniform medium swing strength; we're not swinging for the fences, but we also want the recipient to know something’s up. Lastly, let’s assume a solid face (no holes) of uniform thickness, in this case ~3/4".'

Bee or Buffalo

Real Questions from Real Customers

Given the above, generally speaking, the differences between the paddles would be a sting with the smaller paddles to a thud with the larger paddles. This would coincide with the levels of bruising one may also see: smaller paddles will only create surface redness and may, depending upon the session, create small localized bruising, where as a larger paddle like the Enforcer, may create large, generalized, deep-tissue bruising that could persist from a couple of days to, a week or even longer.

Boudoir in Black Walnut with Holes

So, if you wanted to reprimand someone, but not create a lasting impression, you may use a Boudoir, Hair Brush or even a Femme Patale. These would be enough to get the attention, and even hang around until the following day, but would be least likely to create any long-term effects.

Full of Holes

This is a highly generalized overview of the paddles (and paddles in general), all of which hinges around technique and intent. With regards to holes in the paddles, those serve to increase the sting by creating rings where the skin is squeezed up in to the holes, much like pinching but nearly instantaneous.

Good Intentions

With all of that said, there's the middle ground paddles: Swatter, Femme Patale and Ruler that can fall somewhere between stingy to thuddy depending upon how they are used which brings us to the second question: use. Keeping in mind our "givens" above, we would characterize the paddles thus:

Boudoir & Hair Brush for light intimate spanking or foreplay

Femme Patale, Swatter, & Ruler from medium intimate spanking to disciplinary

Enforcer, Destroyer, & Lambaster serious disciplinary usage to cathartic release (crying just to cry)

Acceptable Damage

On the other hand, if you wanted to create a long-lasting reminder of a discussion, we would use something like an Enforcer or Lambaster. Given a medium swing, these larger faced paddles carry more kinetic energy in to the target so are more likely to cause deep tissue damage, which is the cause of purple and black bruising. In terms of the type of impact, these we would typically classify as "thuddy" and can almost create the cartoon head-spring with a decent swing and good contact.

Knock On

We tend to characterize wood types as either utility or ornamental, though this isn't hard set. For instance, Oak and Hickory tend to be rather straight grained, but if we happen across some good cuts, they can come out looking amazing!

Black Walnut, Padauk, and Mahogany more often than not end up with gorgeous swirling and grain patterns. They also have naturally warm color tones and chatoyance (similar to iridescence) so they would more often fall into the ornamental category.

Hardcore

This all has little to do with wood density, however, since this can vary wildly even in woods of the same type. Generally speaking, the lighter (less dense) the wood, the more sting it has. So, in a roughly ascending scale (light to heavy) of the woods that we use:

Mahogany, Black Walnut, Oak, Padauk, Hickory, Jatoba

Thus, the tendency would be for Mahogany to have more sting while Jatoba would be thuddier.

Lambaster in Jatoba