| Rick Allnut$2.00 92" pine 2x4 material for each paddle Rubberband drip rings |
| Wayne SmithI have about 10 paddles, of 2 basic designs (Shouldered and unshouldered) |
| Don Beale Paddle described- one of two prototype hollow-cores.
Most of my paddles have this tip shape. I like it for the strength it gives in pushing off, and it seems to ventilate less for me than a full round tip. It's about time to replace this paddle, and I think I'll go to a 1-3/4" x 1-1/4" loom cross section. It looks like most people prefer a bigger loom, and Ive noticed some thumb muscle soreness that perhaps this could be the cause of...
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| Brian NystromI like fairly thick blades, so I start with an initial taper from the loom thickness down to 3/4" at the tip.I've made six paddles so far. The storm paddle is the same in all other dimensions as regular paddle. |
| Linda ShelburneFor my first paddle I cut the loom closer to my shoulder width (~16")and found that I needed to use a short sliding stroke in order to not end up hitting my hands on the gunwales. My second paddle has an 18" loom, but I find I still am hitting the gunwales now and then in my Pintail that is 22" wide and even some times in my Rumour that is 19.5" wide. Sooo...I asked Brian to make me a paddle with a 19" loom. It's going to be a beauty! |
| Juan Ochoa 1this paddle is quite large, very bouyant, a bit of over kill maybe. |
| Juan Ochoa 2this paddle is about 'perfect' for me, I added Kwattl indian Orca eye designs to the tips |
| PattyOchoa1this paddle was a bit too small for Patty. It is very light. She wanted more blade area, |
| PattyOchoa2 this paddle is just about right. To optimize the blade area, I made the root a bit wider than the Holst plans suggest |
| SingMy arm span is 66" and cubit is 26". My height is 5'3". My current boat beam is 22". I use a higher angle stroke, generally around 45 degrees, only occaisonally bumping into the skeg cable control. I still getting use to the new GP. It has thicker cross section (airplane wing like) and more lift. |
| Mark Molinabeefy near the loom, little flex, durable edges. I have a Superior carbon and a Turtle Paddle solid cedar version with similar characteristics |
| Phil Ellisslightly hollow between the edge and the spine. Edge radius can start at 1/8" at the tip and increase to 1/4" at the loom. |
| Michael Dalyboth paddles - long axis of loom cross section is in the plane of blade |
| Bobby CurtissMade from a single piece of clear Western Red Cedar, the tips are protected with epoxy, the wood itself is rubbed with a light coat of epoxy. |
| Rob GibbertI epoxied the edges and the endcaps with an epoxy and white coloring agent.next time i'll just do the endcap as i'm not that tough on the edges. |
| Mike Savageedges are 1/4" flat for the outer 20" of the blade. |
| Peter RobinsonI have just completed my first paddle using the instructions from Chuck Holst.
1. This is my first attempt so rather than using cedar (which is hideously expensive here), I used a douglas fir 2x4 - it is known locally as oregon pine. 2. Because I have large hands, the paddle seems quite wide and has a large loom. It is quite heavy - just over 2kg - just under 5lb. It feels quite good in my hands - the loom is great, but it seems heavy. 3. The paddle should have been 98" long but my 2x4 was exactly a whisker over 8' (I bought it before I did the measurements) and rounding/smoothing the ends brought it down to 96".
Because of the weight of this paddle, I would be interested to see paddle weight added to your list which will be a great guide/resource for new gp builders. Maybe some paddler dimensions to go with the paddles as well. I'm 6'3 with a 78" wingspan and large hands.
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| Maligiaq PadillaMaligiaq made this paddle when he was 16 (he is now 20). His current paddle (of which I don't have exact measurements) has the same loom length, a few centimeters longer length and blades that are slighter wider at about 2 7/8".
Paddle survey by Greg Stamer.
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| Greg StamerMany of the Greenland paddles made for racing have plenty of meat in the center of the paddle blade but each edge and the extreme tip is sharp and thin. Subjectively these generated more "bite". My current paddles have fairly blunt edges but I plan on experimenting more with sharper edges. I would also like to make a paddle where the edges are slightly curved near the tip, rather than parallel, similar to two old paddles I saw on my last Greenland trip (one was made by Maligiaq Padilla's grandfather). See Gail Ferris's survey of a Vester Ejland paddle (the first survey) athttp://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/GailPaddles/GreenlandPaddles.html. According to John Heath, Vester Ejland (Western island) with its rough seas and open water, produced many extremely skilled kayakers, including Peter Johnsen (pronounced "yoonsen"), Maligiaq's grandfather.
This length is an armspan plus a cubit (distance from elbow to finger tips). This works the same for me as curling my fingers over a vertical paddle or the dimension of one armspan plus two handspans (w/ outstretched fingers). In Greenland you will find many examples of kayakers who don't treat these sizing methods as "cast in stone", and many variations exits..
The paddle width of 2 7/8" is much narrower than the maximum that I can grip (my maximum grip is 4.5 inches).
Finish is linseed oil.Click here, for some details on the method I use.
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| Worth a look at Chuck Holst's making aGreenland paddle |
| For some traditional lofting, look atGail Ferris' page |