Thickness of wood GP blades

Advice
#1

I am making another GP from WRC and after several this may be a silly question.
How thick should the blades be?
Given the latest treatises , there are undoubtedly subleties in blade form that I may have missed. I tend to leave them a little thick to absorb and repair incidental damage.
The blades now are about 1/2" thick, tapered to the edges. The paddle is already light and easily handled. The next step is for the user to take it for a trial run. I get the paddles wet at this point to raise the grain before finishing it.
Incidentally, it is a beautiful piece of wood and will be prettier when finished.

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#2

Here’s my non-answer… I was way more concerned about the loom and shoulder thickness with my GPs. Bill Bremer handed me a paddle he had made for someone named Ginger. The loom and shoulders were thinner than his standard build. It felt great. "Bill, please make all my paddles ‘Ginger Style’.

#3

I’ve always used Chuck Holst’s instruction set to approximate the dimensions for Greenland Paddles. I say approximate, because in the end it always comes down to your eye and how you work the plane and sander. Holst’s schematic at figure 7 is most useful.

#4

I get an error message from your link.

#5

Not a silly question at all! 1/2" thickness seems reasonable, especially since the paddle feels light and balanced. Tapering the edges is a great design choice too.

#6

FWIW I found this site for the instructions: http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/graphics/kayak/greenland_03.pdf

#7

Is that a Lumpy? I have one and it’s beautiful…

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#8

Thank you.

#9

Yes, it’s a Lumpy. Beautiful and feels great.

#10

The guy I made the paddle for used it for the first time today. Only complaint was his wet lap which he knew was coming.
Ran off and left me . Another satisfied customer.

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#11

This is personal preference but I’ll share my opinions in case it helps spur some thoughts. Many DIY Greenland-style paddles I see are too “blocky” at the tips and edges. This can make the paddle comfortable to hold and less prone to damage, but sometimes it makes a good catch more difficult to obtain as the blade tends to “plop” and “ploink” :slight_smile:

At the risk of oversimplifying, at the Greenland competitions, for the speed events, the paddles are often very sharp-edged, and this “sharpness” continues around the edges and to the tips. This gives a stronger bite. I also prefer “sharp edges” for my long-distance endurance races, but sharp edges are not as comfortable to hold, are less forgiving of bad technique, and are more prone to damage when you hit rocks and other obstructions. I like them as sharp as the material will allow (some carbon blades are quite thin at the edges and tips which wouldn’t hold up on WRC).

If speed is not your thing, many prefer rounder edges for rolling and blended strokes as they’re not as aggressive and are more forgiving of blade angle / technique.

Slightly off-topic but related to edges, a tip I learned from the Greenlanders, to make the edges harder and less prone to damage, is to use a metal rod or the handle of a screw-driver (traditionally bone was and is still used) and press down on the wood fibers as you work the surface. This compresses the wood and gives it a slight sheen. I do this after I am finished with scraping/sanding and oiling.

Greg Stamer

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#12

The technique you are talking about is called boning the wood. It is also used in making bows and arrows for the same purpose. Useful for straightening wood arrows. I hadn’t thought of doing it for the wooden edge of a paddle. Duh!