# Canoe Paddle



## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

*Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*

Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.

I've made a few paddles in the past, and this is how I make them. Nothing too fancy here, mostly handtools and lots of sweat. This is a very satisfying project, and it's really not too difficult. There are no mating parts, no dovetail, no mortises, and no tenons. You only have to remember to stop when it "feels right" in your hands.

So I'm going to make this one out of a piece of yellow birch that's been standing in the corner all winter and needed to come to life as something. It is 4/4 thick. I don't like working with anything thinner because the shaft ends up oval shaped and feels wrong when paddling. I'm also not a fan of softwood paddles, they are definitely lighter, but they're a lot weaker. I've broken softwood paddles going down the river. They only break when you really need them.










That's my shop helper Sascha looking on. and the blue line on the floor is for my dartboard.

I just took my old favourite otter tail paddle and traced around it. You can see in the next shot that I perhaps leaned my pencil too much, so I took a straight edge and connected the blade shape to the hand grip. You can take a large piece of paper and draw a half paddle shape and fold the paper in half then cut it out to get your shape. I know I like this shape, so I just use it. I've always used one piece of wood to make my paddles, but I may try a laminated blade sometime.










So next I rough cut the paddle out on the bandsaw. You can do this with a jigsaw, or even a handsaw(if you have a LOT of patience).









So here's the roughed out paddle.










So the next thing I do it put a fine ink centreline around the outside of the paddle. This helps later when shaping.









This line goes all the way around the paddle.









Next thing is a centreline down both side of the paddle over it's entire length. I find the widest point of the blade and make a mark in the centre of the blade, and I make another mark near the top of the shaft in the middle of the face. Then I use a straightedge and connect these two points with a line that goes from the top to the bottom of the paddle. I do this on the front and back of the paddle. So now you have a one inch thick, very heavy, clunky looking paddle, with lines on it.










Notice how ugly I left the hand grip. That'll be finished nicer later on.










OK, now we start the fun stuff. Tools from here on are a lot of fun. Mostly I use my spokeshave, a rasp, sometimes my #4 plane, and sometimes I've been known to take a few finish strokes of the paddle blade with my #6. Here's the start.










So the first place I start is the blade. Right now I'm just roughing it out. I take the outside edge down to the centre line and fair it back to the centreline on the face. In the next shot, you can see something that always happens to me. The very end of the paddle doesn't seem to get done and the sides do. It happens I think because I want to leave the centre of the paddle at full thickness until I rough out both sides.










You also get to use your rasp. You get to be a little artistic here without worrying about something not fitting.










This is my "Sharpening Station". As you can see I have very expensive diamond stones, and a slow turning wet carborundum wheel. Not really. This may not be fancy, but you know what? It works. I'd like to have a couple of $150.00 diamond bench stones, and a $1000.00 Tormek. But for now, I work with what I have. (any tool companies that need their sharpening gear to be tested and reviewed, just let me know. lol)










So back to the paddle. I'm back at the end of the blade removing a bit more wood.










So here's the first side of the blade roughed out. If you look very closely you can see the centreline around the outside edge is still just barely there.










You can see in the next shot that the centreline on the face is still there. Later on that will disappear whe the blade gets thinned out and finished.










I'm about an hour in at this point. That includes remembering to take pictures along the way. I'm going to flip the paddle over and do the same thing to the other side.

Thanks for looking,

Mike


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## Willeh (Dec 30, 2011)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Looking great.. I was actually thinking of doing a very similar paddle to this in the next few weeks! Thanks for the ti about the centre line, that should make it alot easier to shape the blade.
Do you usually put an insert into the bottom of the blade to prevent it from splitting up the grain?


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Very nice…and I know you must have had fun building it…
That brings back alot of memories. I have a cypress pirogue paddle that I made back around 1960.
It has seen tons of use and never broke…So much for your softwood theory.

I still have it and it is hanging on my workshop wall


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Willeh -no I've never put a piece in the bottom. Never really been a problem for me. And if it does crack or wear too much, I'll just make a new one.

Greg -I'm glad your paddle never broke on you. My experience is different. I've been in whitewater on a river and just when I needed it most, the paddle broke, I lost control of the canoe, and the canoe rolled. Had to pick up gear for what seemed like miles downriver. You need to get that paddle of the wall and in the water.

Mike


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Used it alot for duck hunting back in the marshes when I was growing up and never has it seen whitewater use. Cut a hook in the end to pick up the line on crabnets and whacked an occasional alligator on the head with it.
Now it is strictly a decoration in my barn next to some other old tools and stuff.


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


See know, that's where we differ.
I've never paddled within a thousand miles of an alligator.
Don't think I could either. Lol.
I think I'll stick to the rivers here in New Brunswick. Worst thing you run into here is a moose across the river, but they're tall enough you can duck down and go under their belly. Lol.

Cheers,

Mike


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Very interesting, thank you for this blog.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Mike I might have to give this a try.


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## jackass (Mar 26, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *Starting to Make A Canoe Paddle*
> 
> Well, this is such a great and giving site, I thought I should contribute a little. So here you go. There's still plenty of snow out on the lake but we're only about 6 weeks away from open water on the lake and rivers around here.
> 
> ...


Hi Mike,
I Have a canoe that would have gone well with that paddle. Very nicely done. I have teed up my wife for a trip to Sackville when the Market opens, should be soon, let me know.
Jack


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

*On to the shaft*

So for this installment we'll rough and semi finish the shaft and semi finish the blade.
So I turned the blade over and roughed that side out.









You see in the next shot that again the centreline on the face of the blade is still there.









The focus in this next shot is a little blurry but hopefully you get the idea. It's an end view of the blade. You see that the crossection is sort of diamond shaped. You'll also notice that mine is a little off, but I can fix that later as long as I pay attention when I'm finishing later.









So now that the blade is roughed out I turn the paddle around and start on the shaft. I started to notice when using the spokeshave on the shaft that the grain is a little crazy on this piece of birch, and I keep changing directions to try to control some of the tearout.










I use the spoke shave to rough it out, basically I just start by chamfering the corner off and the working my way out to the ink lines. After I rough with the spoke shave I use a fine rasp and just start working my way around and up and down the shaft. The key is to keep moving and not try to knock of a bump by filing it off square. The other thing to remember is to keep running your hand over it and feeling the wood, and knocking off the high spots. I enjoy this kind of project because it's more a "feel" and "artistic" sort of thing rather than square, and level, and plumb. It makes for a nice change. Just keep the centre lines in mind and finish rounding the shaft until it feels right to you. 









You'll notice in the next shot the lines are beginning to disappear a little as the shaft begins to take shape.










Now that the shaft is semi finished its time to go back to the blade. (I leave the hand grip until the very end)









This is where my #4 really gets to come out to play.









Getting the blade thinned out takes some time and you really need to remember to pay attention to the thickness and keep looking at the blade from the bottom and comparing the thickness of the two faces of the blade. This can be very satisfying taking a shape from a round shaft to a wide flat shape. The shaping at the waist (top of blade/bottom of shaft) I mostly do with the rasp.










I end up flipping the paddle over 6 or 7 times, and working the blade down to an acceptable thickness (thinness ?)
As I get thinner the paddle begins to come to life. I like a paddle that has spring and feels alive when you're using it. The thing to watch out for is to not get too thin. I plane the centre out flattish then work the toe of the blade thinner and fair the edges back to the centre. And keep repeating this until it feels right. For me, paddles that are thick seem dead and unresponsive.

If you noticed in the first installment of this, in the very first picture there seemed to be a small knot in the face of the board. I ignored it because the only way I could fit this paddle shape on that board was the way I did it. That little knot has become more and more frustrating as I go. The grain around it goes in all directions, so the tearout is crazy. Take the time to hone your blades every now and again and this will help keep cut down on this.









Once I get things a little thin, I back my blade off to start taking fine see through ribbons off wood.









From here it's just running your hand over the face and feeling for high spots and knocking them down and fairing them out with the plane, sometimes the spokeshave(especially near the toe). And some of it is done with the fine rasp.

Here's where I am at this point. The paddle has begun to feel very light. I'm not sure how the yellow birch is going to be at this point(I've never made a paddle from this type of wood yet), but it feels nice and springy. Very alive.









So that's it for the moment. The next installment will be focused on the hand grip, and a sanding, and the final finish.

Thanks for looking,

Mike


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *On to the shaft*
> 
> So for this installment we'll rough and semi finish the shaft and semi finish the blade.
> So I turned the blade over and roughed that side out.
> ...


Nice progress… i'll be looking for the next installment


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Bagtown said:


> *On to the shaft*
> 
> So for this installment we'll rough and semi finish the shaft and semi finish the blade.
> So I turned the blade over and roughed that side out.
> ...


I love the " thin shaving" shot.
Great work Mike.


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

*Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*

So, here we go.
This will be the final chapter to this series.
When we left off the paddle blade and shaft were somewhere between roughed and semi finished.
The next step is a little slower. At least for me it is.
The handgrip.
Excuse the poor photography, but here is what were starting with for the handgrip.









You get the idea. We're starting with just a roughsawn blank.
I think if I had been a little slower and used just a little more care at the bandsaw stage, then I wouldn't have spent quite as much time at this stage. Which is ok with me because I'm obviously doing this for enjoyment. Not to go into high production.

So Here's a shot of this handgrip beside one that I did 10 or 12 years ago out of a piece of a pallet. I think the pallet one is maple. I'm going to do something similiar but maybe a little bit nicer lines on this one.









So I'm using mostly a round profile coarse rasp at this stage and you can see that I'm removing material down in the inside curves here.









Holding the paddle in the right place can be a challenge sometimes. In order to use the rasp in the direction of the grain, sometimes you hold it in different and odd ways. In this next shot, this was the only way that I could figure to hold it. I then got on my knees and worked on the handgrip from there.









You can see the shape progressing in the next shot. I still need to hollow out the corners a little more, but you see the top starting to get rounded as well.









A top view.









Now is when you want to go and dig in the bottom of your tool box and get out that four-in-hand that you never knew what to do with. This is the kind of work these were built for.









Now the shape is pretty much there, and I'll keep taking the paddle out of the vise and holding like I'm paddling with it, and back in the vise and refining it until it feels right to me.
Now I'll start with the scrapers. You can see with just a swipe or two the scraper does a nice job. Just make sure it's sharp.









Just to give you an idea of what I meant in the last chapter about paddles that flex and are alive. I like at least this much spring in my paddle.









So, my handgrip is pretty much where I want it to be so I start working my way down the shaft sanding as I go.









Sanding down to the blade.









At this point we're getting close to being finished. So I need to take precautions to protect the wood.
I've got a towel wrapped around it in the vise. You also notice a clamp further along the bench. I put the end of the paddle under that clamp and then when I put pressure while working on the other end, it stays in place.









Using a sanding block and fairing out the edges. Just running the sanding block up and down the edge of the paddle and working my way around the edge from one face to the other creating a radius as I go.









Again, protecting the almost finished work while clamped in the vise.









Hard to see here, but I'm running my hands around and up and down the shaft feeling for corners. When I find any I mark them with a pencil, red in the case, and then come back and sand them down.









After I sand to 220 grit. I go over everything with 0000 steel wool. If you have any little nicks or gouges left, You'll find them pretty quick with the steel wool.









Things are looking pretty good at this point.









The next thing I do is spray the whole thing down with water.









I let it dry for a couple of hours. What the water does is lift all the little fuzzy bits up off the surface. A quick final sanding after that and it will be ready for finishing.

Before I put the finish on I give it a light rub with a tack cloth to get any micro debris.









So, I put two different finishes on my paddles. The first one is on the blade only. I use spar varnish on the blade.









I put 3 or 4 coats on the blade, in between coats I rub it down with 0000 steel wool.









On one of the steel wool rubdowns I ran my steel wool up the shaft and over the handgrip, and noticed it wasn't quite finished. You can see a small nick here that was originally from the bandsaw.









So back to more sanding.









I don't have a picture of it, but before I started putting the finish on the top half of the paddle, I sanded the dry top edge of the spar varnish and feathered it back into the wood above it. This way when I start oiling the shaft, I don't have a line there. If I didn't do this then that line would annoy me because it will be underneath my lower hand when paddling. Picky, I know, but I might as well make it so I don't have to think about it when paddling.

So pretty hard to show, but here's how I use tung oil. I just pour a small amount into my hand and then rub it into the bare wood until there seems to be no liquid left. I hand rub it for a bit more, then let it soak for 10 minutes. After that I use a clean rag and rub off the excess and polish it. I leave it to dry for at least 4 hours and then repeat the process over again.









Before I'm done I'll probably have 7 or 8 coats of tung oil on the shaft and 3 or 4 coats of spar varnish on the blade.
Every winter or spring, it's nice to give a light sanding to the shaft and reapply some tung oil. I wouldn't refinish the blade unless it really needed it.
It occurs to me now, that some of you might wonder why the spar varnish on the blade, and the tung oil on the shaft. Well, a canoe instructor years ago taught me this, it allows the blade to be pretty much waterproof, and allows you to have a better grip on the shaft of the paddle. I prefer the oil finish for the same reason, and up until then had just oiled my entire paddle. If you pick up a wet paddle that came from the store and try to hold on to it while you're traversing some rapids, you'll see the difference.I know if he buys a paddle from the store he'll strip the finish from the shaft and apply a tung oil finish.

Well, I think this pretty well wraps this series up.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below, or send me a message directly through the site.

Also, if anyone is interested, this paddle will be in a silent auction next month here in Sackville at the Rotary annual wine tasting. So come and bid. 

Cheers,

Mike in Bagtown


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## Magnum (Feb 5, 2010)

Bagtown said:


> *Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*
> 
> So, here we go.
> This will be the final chapter to this series.
> ...


Hey Mike:

NO Comments?? I can't believe that!

I've been through a few "Build Blogs" ...... Not one of them had as much Detail and Photos as your's does.

Great Blog!! Great Build Buddy!!

When I worked for the NCC in Ottawa the head Architect had built 2 Strip Canoes. Just starting his Third. I was helping him a LOT! (Wanted to Learn How) It was called a "Puddle Duck". 14 Feet and a Tad under 50 Lbs. Strongback, Ribs (Stations), and about 80 Strips of Cedar 1/4"x3/4"x about 10 Feet Long. Fiberglass In & Out etc.

Turned out Real Nice. So I bought the book he used "Building A Strip Canoe" By "Gil Gilpatrick". Half Size Rib Patterns in the book and an Envelope with Full Size Patterns for Four of them in the back.

That was over Ten Years ago …....still ain't built …LOL… Maybe one of these days.

NOW I've also got the Paddle Build to go with it!!

GOOD STUFF MIKE!!

Rick


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

Bagtown said:


> *Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*
> 
> So, here we go.
> This will be the final chapter to this series.
> ...


Thanks Rick.
I've had a few books on canoe building for probably more than 10 years, and I have yet to build one.
One day.
This build blog is a real interesting process to go through.
Always stopping to take pictures, and thinking in my head what to say to go with the pictures.

Mike


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

Bagtown said:


> *Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*
> 
> So, here we go.
> This will be the final chapter to this series.
> ...


Thanks Mike I enjoyed the lessons.


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

Bagtown said:


> *Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*
> 
> So, here we go.
> This will be the final chapter to this series.
> ...


great build tutorial mike

always something new to learn

thanks for that

now i just need to do this
before i go up the creek again


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Bagtown said:


> *Up the Creek with a Finished Paddle*
> 
> So, here we go.
> This will be the final chapter to this series.
> ...


Hi, Bags! For whatever reason, a paddle is on my To Do List. Probably a laminated one, though. Thanks for taking the time and effort for this blog. I learned a lot.


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