Making a Greenland paddle

I bulit my own Rob Roy (cedar strip canoe) 21 years ago, and at the same time I bought a Greenland style paddle (made out of spruce) to use with it - I still use that paddle with my canoe. The paddle has developed some slight fissures in the blades, and the ends of the tips have gotten a little worn. So, … I’m thinking about making my own paddle.

Questions: 1) What woods should I consider (and for what reasons)?; and 2) What resources (instructional videos, articles, etc.) would you recommend?

On paddling.com I’ve reviewed helpful info on choices of finishes (mine was originally immersed in linseed oil, and the recommended care over the years from the company was a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits; I’ve used this nearly every year and have been pleased with the look and the feel.

Thanks!

I’ve made a couple so far and I simply used redwood as it’s readily available and cheap here. I used redwood as I didn’t want to spend $90 on a chunk of western red cedar just to screw it up until I found the paddle shape and size that I like best, it’s not a common wood in my area and rather expensive, I have a wrc chunk sitting in the garage waiting for me to carve it up.

The go to wood typically is red cedar, spruce is fine, redwood appears to work and is light enough. I’m sure there are plenty of other acceptable species as well.

https://www.capefalconkayaks.com/ is a fantastic source for instruction on making a paddle. I went ahead and paid for the whole video course and felt it was more than worth it. He has a great approach, spells out each step very well and you can keep going back to it as needed as a refresher or as you go through the steps while you build.

Good luck and have fun with it. It really isn’t that difficult with just a few simple tools and taking your time.

There are a bunch of videos on YouTube around making a Greenland paddle.

FYI if you are in the Ann Arbor area Ron Sell of Unadilla boatworks can repair your current paddle and add carbon fiber tip reinforcements and make it better than new; he fixed a couple of fine-edged canoe paddles for me that were in worse shape than your paddle.

I made my first, and only so far, out of a $3 piece of white wood from Home Depot. It was just to practice shaping and see if my guesses about size were correct. I’ll likely build some more this winter. The ends really get beat up so I’m going to try some mahogany tips, but that’s only because I had a free piece sitting around.

I would say spruce is the go to wood and cedar can be adequate for less rugged use. People use cedar because it is often lighter and it smells and looks nice. Spruce is superior in strength and hardness and a well chosen piece can be lighter than some people’s cedar paddles.

I built my first couple out of pine. It was good practice.
The next couple were of WRC 1"x4" , glued together. The last 3 or 4 were WRC . It is interesting to work with because of the long fibers. I have to be careful using stop cuts when working on the looms.
For the blades I use an electric hand planer.

@qajaqman said:
I would say spruce is the go to wood and cedar can be adequate for less rugged use. People use cedar

I would use hard wood like spruce as core with cedar for blades and fiber glass blades. Then glass reinforce the tips. Cover all with varnish. Current one is going on five years.

I have often covered the blades, esp the tips ,with epoxy followed by Spar urethane to protect the epoxy from UV.

@Overstreet said:

@qajaqman said:
I would say spruce is the go to wood and cedar can be adequate for less rugged use. People use cedar

I would use hard wood like spruce as core with cedar for blades and fiber glass blades. Then glass reinforce the tips. Cover all with varnish. Current one is going on five years.

Mine are going on ten with no glass or reinforced tips. But I like natural wood, and have never seen a need for anything harder or stronger than natural spruce. I have had a cedar paddle fail catastrophically. Guess it depends on how and where you paddle, I don’t have to deal with barnacles.

@qajaqman said:
I would say spruce is the go to wood and cedar can be adequate for less rugged use.
Actually, you’ve got it backwards; western read cedar (WRC) is generally the wood of choice for GPs, at least in the US. Spruce obviously works well, too, but finding suitable spruce can be difficult and expensive. Suitable WRC is generally more widely available and less expensive, though that may vary depending on your location. Every paddle I’ve made has been either WRC or predominantly WRC. I’m rough on my paddles and they’ve held up fine. None have broken.

You might also consider cypress, especially if you live in the south or southeast where it will probably be less expensive than spruce or cedar. Cypress is a little harder than cedar although it’s grain is less consistent and it may be harder to find a suitable blank. Both contain oils which make them moisture resistant.

My favorite paddle maker uses both cedar and cypress.

Western Red Cedar is the typical wood of choice. If you have access to a band saw you can find a good fence post at the local home store and cut into one or more usable quarter-sawn paddle blanks. This generally works better than trying to find a good 2X4 but it simply depends on the quality of wood in your area.

For more strength (but heavier) such as for surfing, you can go with spruce. For an ultra-light paddle that will not see heavy loads you can try Paulownia. I have made a few Paulownia paddles that are lighter than many carbon fiber paddles.

Good resources for making Greenland paddles is on the Qajaq USA website at http://www.qajaqusa.org/Equipment/paddles.html#tabs-1 and http://www.qajaqusa.org/Equipment/paddles.html#tabs-2 .

Greg Stamer

@bnystrom said:

@qajaqman said:
I would say spruce is the go to wood and cedar can be adequate for less rugged use.
Actually, you’ve got it backwards; western read cedar (WRC) is generally the wood of choice for GPs, at least in the US. Spruce obviously works well, too, but finding suitable spruce can be difficult and expensive. Suitable WRC is generally more widely available and less expensive, though that may vary depending on your location. Every paddle I’ve made has been either WRC or predominantly WRC. I’m rough on my paddles and they’ve held up fine. None have broken.

Oh I have it quite correct. WRC may be the wood of choice for many for the reasons we both listed, but it is an inferior wood in every structural respect. It may still be adequate, Wrg cost, only Sitka spruce is expensive; With practice and patience (and someone to show you how) very cheap spruce can be found in the spf stacks at large lumberyards at least here in the upper Midwest. Small independent sawmills are another good source. Again both may work fine but spruce is superior wood if you can get it. The weight difference is negligible and I’ve run into people with cedar paddles that are heavier than my spruce paddle.

I guess we’ll just have to disagree. Go to a Greenland event pretty much anywhere in the country and you’ll find that WRC is used by the overwhelming majority of paddlers and paddle makers over any other wood (probably by at least 20-to-1). It’s only real deficiency is that it dents easily, but that can be mitigated by using epoxy-coated or hardwood tips, and perhaps edge reinforcements if you’re really hard on your paddles. I doubt that spruce is significantly better in that regard. WRC’s flex characteristics are ideal for a GP and can easily be tailored to paddler size and strength by varying the design. Stiffer woods are not necessarily better, as the can force you to make a paddle thinner than is ideal in order to maintain some flex and “snap” in the paddle. Personal preferences vary, but I don’t like a rigid paddle, which is one reason I’m not fond of carbon fiber GPs.

A great WRC paddle starts with a blank that’s quarter-sawn (“vertical grain”), that’s clear (no knots or pitch pockets), with the grain running as straight as possible from end-to-end. Like Greg, I’ve found that 4x4s give you double the chance of finding perfect grain compared to 2x4s. If you have really large hands or like a beefy paddle, a resawn 4x4 provides two blanks that are thicker than a 2x4. Another option is 2x6 lumber, which provides one paddle blank and enough extra material for the loom of a laminated paddle.

Whatever you choose, the key is to be extremely picky and not to settle for second-rate lumber. It’s worth investing the time to find good stock. Every broken GP I’ve seen has been made with an inferior piece of wood, sometimes also coupled with poor design. OTOH, a well-designed GP made from a good blank will last almost indefinitely.

Agree with bnystrom re WRC, the flex of the material is a major benefit to its use for a GP. Stiffer GP are just not as engaging in my opinion. Boning the surface of a WRC GP can reduce denting, but I don’t worry about dents much, or even checks, since I typically wear gloves. With my first paddle, I decided to leave it untreated and see how things went before adding anything to it, which was 10 years ago and I don’t plan to reinforce it in any way. I’m not particularly hard on my paddles, but even if I was, I think adding FG to the blades would change its stiffness more I would like.

Same argument and even same materials as in traditional arrows.
Cedar is the popular wood. It came into use because it is lighter so it shoots a bit faster and flatter for target shooting. Personally I like spruce for arrows specifically because of it’s weight and strength for hunting.
Spruce weight and density is all over the place. Straight grain is tougher to find than in cedar.
I like the WRC for my paddle but I may experiment this winter. I could always put a heavy one on the wall behind the bar.

I doubt that a single stick of WRC has ever washed up on Greenland in the last 10,000 years

What does that have to do with anything? Greenlanders never made boats out of fiberglass, either. There are countless products that have been improved by changes in materials.

SharpsRifle: As a former owner of an archery shop, former staff shooter for PSE, and former columnist for Bowhunting World and Archery Business magazines, I’m quite familiar with arrow materials. The Port Orford Cedar that’s the ubiquitous material for wooden arrows is pretty amazing stuff, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen a piece long enough to make a paddle. If it’s available, I imagine it would be hideously expensive, but it would definitely be cool to make a paddle with it!

For the record, I’ve always shot aluminum or aluminum/carbon arrows… :wink:

bnystrom……. Then you know why I think that yew would be cool! Especially since they only use the outside of the log to make bows but again, finding a long enough piece would be a problem. Bow staves are often two pieces jointed.

Yew might be ok but its density is around 42lbs per cu foot. WRC runs at about 23lbs per cu ft (and Sitka about 28).

You might be able to find an very light piece of yew but I wouldn’t want a GP of 40-some ounces!