Interesting paddle find

[lowangle al]

I found a few vintage paddles in a secondhand store recently. Two were traditional beaver tails that needed refurbishing and one was a Grumman that I liked because of the small grip.It was less than 2.5 inches wide, the top of the blade was more narrow than a standard beaver tail also and I thought it would be good for the Canadian or Indian stroke. Upon further inspection at home I noticed that it had a scooped out cupped power face on one side of the blade and a normal convex shape on the other side. Another interesting feature is that the blade is not symmetrical. When looking at the power face, the top of the blade from the widest point to the shaft on the left side was slightly concave, on the right side it is slightly convex, like a normal paddle. From what I can tell it was made like this and didn't wear that way.

I got to use it this week and it was a total fail. I origionally thought it would be good for underwater correction strokes, but because of the scooped blade, and possibly its being non symmetrical, it veered significantly towards ths powerface side. Although I like small grips it was a little too narrow for optimum rotating of the blade.

I had wondered in the past why nobody carves paddles(that I've seen) with a scooped powerface. It may work in certain situations but for a traditional paddle for traditional paddling it stinks. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has come across anything like this.

 

[Odyssey]

Oars. Lots and lots of oars. There must be quite a few empty lonely oarlocks around here because I find old weathered oars in every flea market I wander into.

But this past month I hit the jackpot when we went out for a drive to nowhere in particular and decided to go on a vintage hunt/soup&sandwich date. Up the stairs between the cookbooks and guitars were a selection of nearly a dozen paddles, all beavertails!, of varying lengths and condition. I picked up each one in turn to try the weight and feel hoping to find just the right one. A few came close but they would've needed some shaving alterations for feel. A couple handmade ones were clunky and heavy, one was very cheaply made (resembling an oar) but for the most part they all had charm. Three of them were from Algonquin Outfitters. Hmm. Someone didn't return their rental. I'm still pondering buying one or more just for the charm and Saturday afternoon carpentry play. The blades were in different stages of neglect, between smoothly pristine and deeply cracked. None of them were concave in any way Al. But I might have to go back for another look, and with a bit of cash in my pocket, and a free saturday afternoon in my future.

 

[sweeper]

I found your Oar Locks in the dump, a really nice set.

 

[yellowcanoe]

AO used to dump their paddles at fall events: thise that volunteered got a paddle Free.
I have two
Kettlewells yet.