[CanuckJim]

Drake,

As I see it, the flexibility comes from the fact that you've made it from one piece of pine (?). Next time, you might consider making the handle out of harder wood, cutting a notch in the blade, gluing in the handle and sanding smooth. For the peel you have, you might stiffen it by using a router with a dovetail bit to cut a female opening from the end of the blade to several inches into the handle, then make a matching male piece out of hardwood. Glue it in, sand smooth. That would take out a lot of the flex, which I'm assuming is where the blade stops and the shaft begins. It might be even simpler to cut a slot all the way through with a table saw, but a dovetail gives you more glue surface. The weak spot on the two large peels I made is at the juncture of the blake and shaft. Had to repair one, twice.

Jim