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Greenland Paddle build

The 92" paddle seems to be working. As I don't really have anything to go on other than the reccomendations in the article, I can't really say whether it is working properly for me or not. I've been paddling with it as my prime paddle since I built it, so I am getting dialed in on it. I have no trouble keeping up with it. It sacrifices some 'burst' speed. It's a heck of a crowbar for getting out of the water with. Subtle boat handling by edging gets lost a bit as I tend to compensate by extending the paddle a bit farther in the sliding stroke.

This one is Doug Fir so it wouldn't break if it was a foot longer. It is heavy though. I had a thought of doing a mixed laminations with Spruce or DF for the shaft and WRC for the blades. Anyone tried this?
 
Jurfie, one thing I learned from Maligiaq Padilla is that tha loom can be a few inches longer than most of the building instruction, which turned out to be 20-21 inches loom for me instead of 18 inches I have now. He says that that way you can put more power on it. And he says he uses thinner edge one for turing, the blade goes into the water more smoothly ( less wasted energy).
 
Thanks everyone DarenN, woodensoul and sushiy for the replies! Once I'm settled into the new place, I think I'll tackle one.

I have access to a planer, so I may try laminating strips; would a good waterproof wood glue work instead of epoxy?
 
any time i've built a laminated paddle i've used epoxy. unless i was going to completely coat the paddle with epoxy and varnish, i don't think i'd trust a waterproof glue.

Daren........
 
I don't have experience with water proof glues, so I can't really comment. I do have a buddy who has a cottage industry making bread/carving boards that presumably go in the dish washer and he is successfully using a waterproof glue for that. I'd be reluctant to recommend it without a trial however...
 
Hmm, thanks guys. I guess I'll have to suck it up and try my hand with epoxy, or else just hunt down a nice clear 2x4 for my first paddle.

I'll be sure to post pics!
 
Hey Jurfie, I checked with my buddy and the glue he uses for carving boards is called 'Titebond III', the 'III' is very important and the container has green lettering on it. He tested it by several cycles of boiling and then drying the laminated blocks. So if you are up for an experiment and want to let us all know....
 
Titebond III is measurably better than Titebond II. Good for gluing strips edge to edge when the whole assembly will be under epoxy and glass, but perhaps not as good as epoxy for a paddle in which seams will become exposed, in use. Nobody coats their Greenland paddle with glass, do they?
 
Hi

Here is my experience with carvng a GP.

I built a Tom Yost folder in New Zealand and had it shipped over when we moved to Vancouver last year, we subsequently bought a house and looks like the previous owner intended to do some major renovations as I found a faily decent pile of 2x4 white cedar(??)-- pretty light and 95% knot free.The timing could not be better : I was looking for some lumber for a GP.

See attached iamge showing what can be achieved with a small hand saw , a small hand plane, some sandpaper and lots of elbow-grease!!
953_gp133_1.jpg
 
Astoriadave said:
Titebond III is measurably better than Titebond II. Good for gluing strips edge to edge when the whole assembly will be under epoxy and glass, but perhaps not as good as epoxy for a paddle in which seams will become exposed, in use. Nobody coats their Greenland paddle with glass, do they?

Thanks AD. sounds like you have already done this experiment. My impression is that GPs are generally not coated in epoxy.
 
I paddled with someone elses GP for a bit the other night. It was super light and apparently was hollow with a carbon tube in it! Still looked like a wood paddle. The blade was very thin made up of a lamination of cedar (WRC) over ash. The as was for the edges and was strong enough to be tapered down to an 1/8" or so thickness. I think I am on a quest now to build a lighter paddle...
 
Paulownia makes a very light paddle, I typically use it for inner laminations, either vertically through the shaft, or horizontally through the blades, with WRC outer core. I've never been able to find paulownia in anything other than finger jointed, so would use it for the entire paddle only by laminating three pieces horizontally. I like to use resorcinol glue for the contrasting black line in the laminations, but use polyurethane "gorrilla" type glue when I want an invisible line
By the way,clear cedar is boring to me, and I much prefer small, tight knots, which I work into the design, and sharpen my plane to razor sharpness, and tighten up the frog to take a smaller shaving, the wax the heck out of the bottom of the plane , and take more passes, with less force. Knots make very little difference when you tune up your tools this way, and the finished product is much, much more interesting!
 
Good looking paddle. Which Yost folder did you go with ? I built a strongback from his plans haven't got around to using it yet.

I've made around 12 narrow bladed paddles now , mostly use local red cedar off the beach, a few of yellow cedar, one each of pine and spruce , have one on the go from an aspen that a beaver felled.

yaka2b said:
Hi

Here is my experience with carvng a GP.

I built a Tom Yost folder in New Zealand and had it shipped over when we moved to Vancouver last year, we subsequently bought a house and looks like the previous owner intended to do some major renovations as I found a faily decent pile of 2x4 white cedar(??)-- pretty light and 95% knot free.The timing could not be better : I was looking for some lumber for a GP.

See attached iamge showing what can be achieved with a small hand saw , a small hand plane, some sandpaper and lots of elbow-grease!!
953_gp133_1.jpg
 
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