I agree that the description is not clear at all. It’s hard to tell if he’s referring to a bend or a twist (feather?) in the blades, or an offset in the loom. Regardless, none of these are necessary nor beneficial with proper technique. They also negate the “just grab it and paddle” nature of a symmetric GP.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it sounds from the OP’s explanation that the paddle is just slightly twisted, as if you had an adjustable indexed two piece paddle with a 4% offset position (rough calculation I based on a 3” blade width). Such a paddle would still be perfectly symmetrical in terms of “grab and go” since the offset would be functionally the same no matter which face was towards the paddler.
If this is the case, all such a design would be doing would be adjusting the blade cant of each stroke entry in the way that most of us GP users simply do reflexively by wrist positions as we feel and learn what makes the paddle work best in the water.
But, obviously, if a paddler was a longtime habitual user of such an offset blade paddle, they would need to relearn their stroke handling with a regular in-line blade GP to achieve the same entry.
I have never seen one by him. So besides not having anything to go on I don’t even know if he addressed anything by his rendition.
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Right…? 4% is so incremental I don’t think it is really significant. I think I had Pat/ONNO make me a paddle with 15%, 30% and 45% offset. I could not tell much of a difference of the 15% from 0%. The 45% felt a bit too much in offset but still doable for my strokes, bracing and rolls, although I remember some sensation in the wrist after a paddle.
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This whole thing sounds like something that happened by accident. Wood is a variable material that moves due to internal stresses, environmental conditions, and the stresses applied to in use and storage. The most commonly used wood in GPs - western red cedar is particularly prone to this and I’ve observed that a cedar 2x4 will deform under its own weight, if supported only in the middle or at the ends. I strongly suspect that Wolfgang made a paddle that twisted slightly during construction and he found that he liked it.
Willowleaf is correct that a twisted paddle is still symmetric. Using a properly loose grip (no “control hand”), such a minor twist would make no difference.
Just for fun, I took a look at some of the paddles I’ve made. They had varying degrees of bow, albeit minor, and possibly some degree of twist, but it’s really hard to see. Regardless, I’ve never noticed any difference between them that could be attributed to these minor deviations from “perfectly straight”.
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I have a lot fewer years doing it than you do Brian, but I have found what you wrote here all to be true.
Here in central Wyoming NO ONE stocks red cedar and they will order it for me but then I don’t get to cherry-pick what comes. Add to that fact the price they demand which is the same as good walnut or maple, and those 2 facts caused me to look at other woods. (The last quote I got for a 1X4 Red Cedar board 8 feel long was $93.17)
But they do have stacks and stacks of Western Pondarosa pine. So I looked up some specs on weights and average strength and found Ponderosa Pine is heavier then Red Cedar but only a small percentage, and the strength of Ponderosa Pine (a sub-species of Western Yellow pine) is about 30% higher.
So I have used it and found it’s a process of “stack picking” to get boards that don’t have knots enough to disqualify them, and also getting boards that are nearly straight is a bit of a challenge. Maybe 1 in 25 of 30 is good enough. But because the yards have it in huge amounts I can do take the time to go through them s tacks — and when I get boards that suit the need it works well and from what I have seen is less prone to warpage over time the Red Cedar.
My friend Len in Missouri started using Sassafras and I have seen his paddles and I like them. He’s a very big man at 6’ 2" and 270 lbs. He takes his paddles and places them across 2 cement blocks at the base of the blades and loom and then stands on them, flexing them a lot and yet not one has broken. Sassafras is very springy and was used in the 1800s for wagon springs. For kayakers who want to have GL paddles for long days and long trips it may be ideal. It’s more flexible then good pine or cedar so that it is is condemned by those wanting speed above other considerations, , but for those wanting 8-12 hour days and no joint shock it’s been wonderful.
So I have to guess that there is much to learn about paddle materials and at the age I started kayaking I realize I will not live long enough to learn it all. So I am always eager to talk to others that have years of experience and learn from them.
Because of the reality of supply and demand in my area I have to use what I can get and what I can afford. Poplar has given me good results too, but if heavier then Pondarosa pine. Its advantages are that is is easy to get in very straight and very clear boards and it’s quite strong and it’s super easy to work.
I have come to prefer using 1X4 and 1X6 boards and then using 1X2 to laminate the centers to make the loom and tapers. The 3 piece laminates give more strength and stiffness. It probably is also one reason I get no warpage after the paddles are made. So that is in the back of my mind as a possible reason for my success with pine when I compared it to Red Cedar . Maybe my P pine is not less prone to warpage only because a 3 piece laminate and the Red Cedar paddles were
made from 1 piece boards? I don’t really know.
What I do know is that the Ponderosa and the Poplar paddles have not warped at all, and I have seen about 1/4" of warpage in the cedar paddles after they were made. The “why’s” I have not determined yet.
Yup… probably a function of changes in the paddle wood. Just for the heck of it, went back over HC Petersen’s massive tome on Greenland boats and equipment and some of Harvey Golden’s paddle replicas. No mention of historical paddle designs with intentional offsets or twists. Of course, well possible someone did carve with that as outlier from the traditional designs passed down.
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