Building a Greenland paddle

• Materials - Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce, Redwood, Douglas Fir
• Start with a 2x4, straight and clear
• Grain orientation - flat sawn will be a little more flexible and less prone to splitting.

Quartersawn, or vertical grain, will be stiffer but splits easier. General opinion favors vertical grain over flat sawn. Avoid grain runout.

http://www.qajaqpnw.org/SharonPaddle.jpg Ted Henry photo

Dimensions: There is a good link to Chuck Holst's plans on the Qajaq USA Kayaks, Paddles, Gear page, or from the KayakForum. Gail Ferris also has good reference material. You will need to know the overall length, loom length, shoulders or no, and blade width before starting. Roughly, overall length from the ground to mid-palm with your arm streched up, and loom length measured between your hands while at rest by your sides. Wider boats may be more comfortable with a little longer paddle, where the length is added to the loom.

• Tools:
  • First of all, consider protecting yourself - all important so that you can do these things safely.
  • Hand Tools:
    • Drawknife, plane, low angle block plane, spokeshave, sanding block.
  • Power Tools:
    • A band saw is faster for getting out the bulk, but not necessary. Stationary belt sander works well for shaping edges, especially if hardwood (ash...) is used for edge protection. Random orbital sander works nicely for final sanding, and smoothing off the shape. Router, either handheld or in a table, works well for rounding over the loom. Use the tools you have - don't spend a lot of money on power tools just to build one paddle.

Start by marking the centerlines and the thickness profile on the 1-1/2" sides of the 2x4 - this affects the blade thickness, loom thickness, and stiffness of the paddle. Using the hand plane, drawknife, or bandsaw, shape the thickness to the lines. Keep the centerline in the center, and work symetrically on all four blade faces.

With the thickness cut, mark the blade and loom profiles onto both faces of the paddle, and rough-cut with a bandsaw or use the drawknife or spokeshave. Leave a little material outside the marks, and bring it to final dimensions with the block plane. Then re-mark the centerlines on the thickness, adding in the blade edge thickness. Run the loom thickness lines through the blade faces.

Next, carve a rolling bevel from the edge markings to the loom thickness markings. Work carefully on each face, keeping the centerlines in the center. The low angle block plane works well for this, as does a spokeshave. When finished with all four faces, you should have a rough shape of the paddle, balanced, and the blades should be very close to there final dimensions except that the tips are still square.

A 3/4" roundover bit on the router works well to shape the loom, a spokeshave or low angle block plane will work also.

Do the final shaping with a random-orbit sander or a longboard. Then shape the tips last.

Finish with a mixture of boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and a little varnish. This mixture is very similar to Watco. Apply several coats as quickly as the wood will absorb it, then one coat a day for several days. Recoat as needed.

A shaving horse is a handy tool for this.