Carving Traditional Canoe Paddles
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- A few years back I made my prototype Mystic River Tandem canoe. I wanted to make some paddles for it an bought some walnut. The walnut sat for years. I finally got to the project.
I elected to make two slightly different traditional paddle forms from solid wood. The more familiar is a standard "beaver tail" shape, which is nearly oval but with the greatest width concentrated closest to the tip.
The other shape is a "willow leaf". This is a bit narrower with the greatest width concentrated up nearest the top of the blade.
For the willow leaf blade I decided to give it a bit of a "stem" ridge running down the centerline. Because I thought it looked cool. This suggested using more hand tools in the final shaping
On the beaver tail I opted for a more oval cross section with the hint of a crease at the centerline. I used a right angle grinder for most of the shaping.
I drew up some shapes and used my CNC machine to make some patterns out of cardboard.
I don't have a jointer so I prepped the wood initially with a handheld power plane. I put a mahogany spline across the tip to reinforce it against splitting.
The table saw made the straight cuts for the shaft and then I tapered the blade on the bandsaw. The power plane then took off the bulk of the remaining material.
I used a variety of hand tools to shape the stem of the willow leaf, switching to the right angle grinder for the beaver tail.
After final shaping with hand tools, I sanded to 220 grit and applied three coats of varnish. This was sanded again with 220 and another coat of varnish applied to finish.
I haven't weighed the paddles yet. They are a bit on the heavy side, I could have made them thinner, or used a softwood instead of walnut.
I've been super busy this summer teaching classes, going to shows and hosting the Schoodic Retreat. When I started working on these paddles back in July, I thought I would have a nice video for early August, and in August I would make some kayak paddles.
It didn't happen. But here is the process of making a couple different traditional canoe paddles. As of now (October 2018) I have not even started making the kayak paddles, but hopefully I can fit those in before I start my next kayak build.
Nick Schade Don’t know if it’s something done at your end when uploading but I get a message saying that the “video is unavailable on this device” (Apple tv). I was still able to watch it on my phone but the quality just isn’t the same. Just letting you know in case you can do something about it the next time. Loved the video. I’ve built canoes and other boats but never a paddle.
Thanks for the notice, as far as I know there is nothing unusual in how this is saved. It is possible RUclips has not encoded it for AppleTV yet.
This is the most power tools I've ever seen in a "carving" video
Nice, very nice. Beatifull works!!! Saludos desde Montevideo Uruguay 🇺🇾
Expert carving skills- thanks for keeping this tradition alive. Love the indigenous folk songs sounds track as well. Best cave painting I've watched all night!
very nice,a lot of work goes into making a great paddle i see.
Beautiful job! Thanks for sharing!
You keep giving me projects I want to do!!!
Stunning work!
Wow Nick, those paddels looks awesome and I guess that they works like a charm.
I haven't had a chance to try them yet. Hopefully soon.
Another great video. Thanks.
Nicely done video Nick, loved the soundtrack as well.
Good looking paddles.
Cheers from Thunder Bay.
Thanks Joe. They were fun to make.
@@NickSchade Yeah, lots of fun. Between my Greenland paddles and canoe paddles, I knock off up to a couple hundred per year from out here in my woodshop now too. Still loving it after more than 10 years of full time paddle making.
While I enjoy making paddles, I don't make nearly as many as you do. These two canoe paddles were one project, and I'm just finishing up 7 euro paddles. That will be it for a while.
@@NickSchade I may make more paddles...but I've yet to build a kayak or canoe...you're way ahead of me there Nick.
Joe O's Channel you should give it a try. A SOF is a good place to start.
You're a legend! What paddle shape would u recommend for isup? Im planning to make one so we can paddle in tandem. Tnx for sharing this nice piece of work..
Nice paddle Nick
I almost had a stroke watching that thing wobble around while you were trying to plane it. I think I would have cut a shaft then glued the blades up with layers of hickory and a light colored wood. Would save a lot of cutting and a lot of lumber.
Laminating the blade on to a shaft is definitely one way of doing it. I have a series on making a kayak paddle that show that process. But for this I wanted to show making a paddle from a solid piece of wood. My stock of walnut had a lot of rot in it and I had to work around that, so while this method does waste wood, not much quality wood was lost in this project.
I think that you would enjoy a switch from cedar every now and then.
I enjoyed working on the walnut display stand for the microBootlegger Sport. It is a nice wood to work with.
Nick Schade That was an entertaining video, thanks. I noticed some burning on the saw in the early stages, but the wood did quickly respond very well to your shaping. Very nice work!
Why walnut? I made a couple of canoe paddles out of spruce (2x SPF lumber). They came out nice and light, work like a charm.
I just liked the look of it. Like you say, I would have had lighter paddles with spruce or similar.
Walnut is just plain beautiful. I noticed that the saws didn’t like it too much😙
Yeah, the saw struggled at times. A little bit smoky for a bit there.
Walnut dust is an irritant but it is worth it for the aesthetics. For my GP, I made it with spanish cedar. Its heavier but still limber and responsive. It looks amazing with color and grain popping when wet and in the sun.
As beautiful as walnut is, it is a heavier wood and not ideal for paddles. As you mentioned, a bit on the heavy side and if you plan on doing a day trip, this would not be your ideal pick for that excursion. Fatigue would be your biggest issue. However the look of them is magnificent just the same.
I made a similar paddle to your willow leaf design. I made an otter tail out of cherrywood and left the spline down the centre to about the middle of the blade. It gives the paddle that extra little standout punch. I could sure benefit from some of those tools you have to speed up my build process. Most of my tools are all hand tools. A bandsaw would be ideal for cutting out the patterns. Some day I guess.
Great job nonetheless. It was an enjoyable video. Cheers!
Nick, looks like you left the grips unepoxied. Was that for better feel? We’re they spar varnished? Nice wood, nice work, ~JC
Didn't realize I'd need a second mortgage to be able to afford the tools needed to "carve" a "traditional" paddle.
I have shown a variety of tools that can be used in a variety of situations during the build process. As a presumably, smart, thinking woodworker, you should be able to decide which tools fit with your preferences and skills.
Hi Nick, put some pictures of the events that you participated.
I do have a video of my Schoodic Retreat at ruclips.net/video/DCSPKDzYvPU/видео.html You can also find pictures and video from some of the other events on my Instagram account: instagram.com/guillemotkayaks/
Already seen, waiting for you to do a video teaching lofting, here in Brazil we do not use this table
Two questions:
1 what sort of wood are you using for the paddle
2 why did you insert that piece of wood into the oar side of the paddle?
I made the paddles from American walnut (Its what I had on hand, but its a bit heavier than I would like). The spline at the end of the blade helps prevent splitting.
What’s traditional about power tools?
Indigenous peoples have been using power tools for thousands of years.
Nick, Did you coat with epoxy or varnish,, or both?
Just varnish.
OK. Beauty. :-)
You could save yourself a lot of time with a hatchet and a drawknife. And you wouldn't have to worry about dust and ear protection.
Well yeah, me and you might well do it that way, but this is Nick's way.
Yes this certainly is not "carving" but rather, machining of paddles
I've always found it funny that people use obnoxious and expensive power tools only to take much longer than they would with simple hand tools.
@@NotALizardPerson81Yeah. I seems to me that people have been brainwashed to think that using hand tools is always very difficult. However, many power tools are quite cheap. For instance, a simple electric drill is cheaper than a newly made egg-beater-style hand drill.
That is NOT carving a traditional canoe paddle. That is Machining a traditional canoe paddle! Carving is when you do construct something strictly with hand tools. You should honestly know the difference and not mislead people. I would be ashamed of myself.
I see a lot of hand work here . Maybe the title is a little misleading but to bring shame into it is going too far ! I personally liked the heavy rock music when the grinder came out. ,it seemed appropriate. Then back to folk music for hand planing. A nice touch.
@@madpainter7114
Carving is removing the material that is not paddle.
Does it matter what tools you use?
I’m just playing around…