Paddles are far to costly for me to afford to buy several just to try out. That's not to say they are not worth their price, but only that I personally can't afford them. So I am going to try Greenland paddles because I can make them.
I made one already and find it's a "slow mover" for the forward stroke as compared to my spoon bladed paddle, but for bracing and for sculling it is very easy and smooth to use. My GL paddle is 7 feet long, and I believe I made the loom to long and the blades too short and probably a bit of the narrow side. So the next one I make will be longer (8 feet + or - ) and I think I'll make the loom fairly short like some I see the pictures from a museum in Greenland. My idea is to go longer then normal, and a bit wider on the blades (about 4" to 4-1/4") and try it out. My reason is that if it's too wide and/or too long I can always fix that. Taking more off is easy for me. I can't grown any wood back however.
I am also thinking about making an aluminum sleeve and socket to place in the middle of the loom which will allow me to take it apart for transportation and storage. I have a lathe in my gun-shop, so making a lockable sleeve in the center would not be hard for me to do. If I do that I can also make the paddle short and then add a section in the center when I want a longer paddle, turning the 2 piece paddle into a 3 piece paddle. It could be both 7.5 feet and 8.25 feet, all in one package. My idea to to cut precision threads and a locking collar with a set up for a spanner wrench (which I can also make.) By shouldering the socket of the male and female threads at about 25 degrees I can get a very good cinch and perfect alignment, and I can make an adjustable collar to allow for for thread wear, so normal wear can be taken up over time. All working threads will wear over time and aluminum is going to wear faster then steel, but if I used a locking collar I can always tighten the lock and keep the paddle aligned even as the threads wear over time. You simply adjust the collar instead of the sockets, and lock it when the blades are aligned with each other.
The take-down section would be about 7" long overall, and that's only 3.5" side to side of center, which is the part of the paddle shaft you don't place you hands on most of the time anyway.
The rest of the loom I'd make oval so I can feel the angles of the blades and learn how it should feel. I am unsure if the long dimension of the oval is supposed to align with the blades or is it supposed to be perpendicular to them? I read about them on line, yet I have never seen a real one so I am just guessing. Can someone out there tell me?
To start out I think I'll make a GL paddle at about 8 feet, and then if I can find the time I can always cut it and attach a take-down socket later.