Mem's making a paddle so do I....

[memaquay]

Around fifteen years ago, I had a small business called Blue Heron Canoeworks. My primary businees was portage clearing. Ran it for about five years as a summer job. One of my wives got me a very thoughtful christmas present during that time. She had a brand made from Lee Valley with the company name on it, and for many years I always burned it into any paddles or canoes that I made. Took me a while to find it last night, but I fired it up a few minutes ago.



Only needs to be heated for a few minutes. I tried a few practice burns on scrap wood to try to get the count right for the perfect brand. However, once I put it on the paddle, I think I held it for one count to long.



I'll give it another light sanding tomorrow, and most of the excess burn will disappear.



I'm hoping to start the finishing coats tomorrow. I'm really liking the feel of this paddle. I drove out to one of the local rivers, and if the -20 temps tonight don't refreeze it, I could be paddling, although very carefully, by next weekend. All the banks are still ice lined, but I'm hoping to maybe do an overnight with the wood stove and canvas tent if I can find a spot to climb out. Hoping to bring the paddle along.

 

[Canotrouge]

That's some beautiful looking work there. Nice job!

Alan

Thank you Alan!

 

[Canotrouge]

Looking great Mem, Can't wait to see the finished paddle!!

 

[Peach Canoe]

Lovely paddle Mem. Working the grip on my Sitka Beavertail.

 

[memaquay]

Finished my paddle, basically. Put two coats of clear coat on it. When it warms up, I'll put three coats of spar varnish on top of that.



Asymmetrical grip, turned out pretty good, feels real comfortable


I like to name my paddles


Made a template for an ottertail yesterday, going to glue it up today. I don't know why I'm making all these dang animal tails, it's like a sickness right now.

 

[Peach Canoe]

Spanky's a beauty! Nice work.

 

[Canotrouge]

Looking real good Mem!! Can't wait to see the entire animal tails series you will be coming up... Muskrat tail... Moose tail... Squirrel tail....

 

[Odyssey]

Spanky's nice. Can't wait to see the rest of the gang.

 

[memaquay]

Cut out the ottertail today...wow is that ever a big blade. Used the offsets from Warren and Gidmark's book. So for those of you who are animal tail people, is the ottertail supposed to be that big? The beavertail beside it is a fairly big blade.

 

[Alan Gage]

Mem: Is the making of these animal tail paddles atonement for buying a lightweight single person tent?

Alan

 

[memaquay]

Guess I just want to be one of the cool kids. Gonna make myself a set of canvas underwear next to match my canvas backpack.

 

[Murat V]

I found Gidmark's original ottertail offsets pretty big too. It was impossible to balance the huge blade size for my preferred length. It ended up being just too blade heavy and not great to use in the water. He has lots of other ottertail designs in his 100 Paddle Designs book that are more modest in size. If you don't end up using yours, I'm sure you could sell it online as some sort of specialty bakery paddle for "artisan" bagels.

Thanks for the idea on the canvas underwear!

 

[Rippy]

Guess I just want to be one of the cool kids. Gonna make myself a set of canvas underwear next to match my canvas backpack.

Maybe you could wear them with the chaps next time.

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

Canvas underware... dang I need a pair, I'm sure they would breath really well...

The otter tail look really big... All my paddle design have been drawn on graph paper and I've never measured anything other than max width and max length that I wanted. the rest is all by eye and what look good to me!
My "otter" tail paddle blade template is in the pictures below, one square is one inch!!

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

I'm starting on 2 new sitka spruce paddle, one "new" blade design inspired by Maliseet hunting paddle.... I'm going back to fabrication technique I was once using, similar to what Mem used, but a bit different... That way I can make 2 paddles in one chunk of wood, less waste.

 

[Peach Canoe]

That looks great CT.

Here's an update on my Sitka Beavertail. I hope to finish the shaft tomorrow.

 

[memaquay]

Wow, you guys are good! I'm just a wood butcher, hacking away at stuff till it's good enough. My room at school looks like Santa's workshop right now, as several of my Outers kids have started building their own paddles for the trip in June. It's quite fun right now, the excitement is starting to buzz.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Mem's looks like a variant on an Ottertail.. more of a Voyageur shape. Gid may have had too many beers. One of my best friends is his cousin. You can always shave it down to preference.
Gidmark is a legal journalist. How novel! Don't we have one of those here too?

 

[Odyssey]

Yeah, I was thinking Voyageur as well. That's a big stick memequay. You don't talk softly do ya?
Some real artisan paddler makers here on this thread. Nice work.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I prefer to let others do the artistry work, S and T has a contest for a paddle that has three weeks left.

this one

http://www.shawandtenney.com/productdisplay/allagash