Building a Paddle?

[scaup]

I think my daughter and I are going to make a couple of paddles this winter. Can anyone tell me about some good, "how to material"? Books and etc... Thanks.

[Quetico]

Contact the guys at the Northwest Canoe Company in St.Paul. They have everything you would need. They sell tons of books on building paddles, canoes and kayaks. They also offer course on building everything.

[scaup]

I talked to one of the guys from Northwest Canoe Company. They did not have any refernece materials but were really helpfull in answering some questions I had. If I were going to build a canoe I would certainly take one of the classes offered by them. I ended up ordering a book from Piragis.

[Quetico]

Yeah I found them when I needed a replacement part for my Penobscot. They were extremely helpful. Getting the part from them cut to fit my canoe was fair cheaper then ordering the part directly from Old Town.

[hovermn]

I don't usually stop in this forum, but man am I glad I did. I've been thinking about building some paddles for some time. Sounds like the place to go. Do they have a shop that's open to the public? I'd love to stop in sometime.

[Quetico]

Its a really small shop. They do tons of boat repairs and custom boats. They offer canoe and kayak building classes. Its run by 2 guys who really seem to know what they are doing.

Yes, they do have a shop thats open to the public. Its a beast to find the bottom floor of a major building on the edge of downtown St.Paul.

[IFallsRon]

I built a set many years ago out of mahogany for the main shaft and birch and mahogany strips for the paddle and handle. Used a waterproof glue and left them clamped up for several days to cure. I cut them down with a block plane and finished up with the sanders. Be careful not to make the paddles too thin as they'll have no strength in the water. I think my startup stock was 1.5 x 3/4.

I used a standard paddle as a template and made custom length from the ground to my chin for best efficiency.

[scaup]

I finished my first one a few weeks ago and have been glueing up 2 more for the kids. I just did the rough cut on them last night. I really enjoyed makeing the first one and I think it turned out pretty well. I used hackberry, maple and poplar. On the kids paddles I am using Hackberry, poplar and some aspen. The only thing I can't figure out is how to put an abraison resistant tip on the paddles to protect from the rocks in the BW.

Any ideas would be really appreciated.

[flyfisher03]

Could use some marine fiberglass cloth and resin to make them more resistant to abrasion.

[jonny_redhorse]

Well,I can't say these 2 paddles in the photograph are anything that "special" but I carved em myself ...one from a redwood plank...the other from a white cedar plank....been useing em for about 5 years up in the Voyageur's Park(Grassy Bay).....no fancy bells and whistles on these guys but they certainly get the job done! ....if they break(which they aren't going to do)...just take an afternoon with the bandsaw,beltsander and make another one....no glueing invoved with this paddle project....

[MNice]

I wouldn't worry to much about the tip, I built this one about 4 or 5 yerars ago and have just been a little careful and it's held up great.

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