Canoe Paddles
I wasn’t going to spend all the time and effort to build a wooden canoe and then go out to the sporting goods store and buy a plastic paddle off the shelf.
Furthermore, I couldn’t just make one. What was Sara going to do - hang off the stern and kick?
Goal: make two wooden paddles before completion of the Canoe.
Research: I bought a few books on how to make a paddle but I found them uninspiring. I abandoned text in form of YouTube. It was there that I discovered this video: Sanborn Canoe Co. It isn’t an instructional video as much as an advertisement for a tiny company in Minnesota that produces handmade paddles. But they do quickly go through their process. And in doing so reveal everything I needed to know to attempt my very own. (I must have watched that video 40 times; pausing and rewinding the sections I was struggling with).
The first paddle, shown above, is Sara’s. Working from the middle outwards: the shaft is straight-grain Ash, the blade is made from Purpleheart, 1/4” strips of Ash, Redwood, and Walnut. Carving and shaping different species and hardnesses of wood was difficult. The blade would cleanly slice through Redwood and then stutter and stall across the hardwood of Purpleheart. The solution was to have an extremely sharp edge on my block plane and make shallow cuts. A challenging project that yielded something I’m extremely proud of.
My paddle was a lamination of all the species of wood that went into making the canoe. It resulted in a neat ‘scrapbook’ of all that went into the boat.
Paddle #2 - my primary instrument
Wood Species: Cocobolo, Walnut, Redwood, Cherry, Ash, Mahogany, Red Oak, Maple, Eucalyptus
Use in canoe, respectfully: Decks, Inner stems and Scruppers, Hull, Outer Stems, Shaft (Louisville Slugger uses Ash due to its excellent impact strength), Gunwales, Seats, Thwart/Yoke, Accent strip on the hull
Paddle #3 - Christmas gift to my parents
The blade is Buckeye - the state tree of Ohio (its nut is the mascot of THEE Ohio State University). The shaft is Redwood - the state tree of California. My parents moved to Ohio in 2005 after 50+ years in California.
I made this as a thank you to them for changing their Christmas plans to come to Half Moon Bay because I was going through Chemotherapy and unable to travel.
Paddle #4 - The chevron patterned scrap wood replacement
Paddles 1 and 2 were mounted above our TV at home for about a year. I moved the canoe and my paddle to the Cabin which left a void that I was forced to stare at every night as I sat down to watch Jeopardy! Simply unacceptable.
I hastily whipped up this out of scrap laying around just to have something pretty to look at. The blade and shaft are Redwood. The chevron paddle, top to bottom: Walnut, Redwood, Paduk, Yellowheart, Purpleheart. It has never seen the water and I doubt it ever will.
