Weird Dreams About Animal Tails

[memaquay]

Hoping to make this one acceptable in the weight department. Used to build beaver tails as one piece paddles out of hardwood, but always found them to be fairly heavy. Reduced the size of the shaft on this one too, usually used 1 1/4 by 1 1/8, but I have short fingers, so went to 1 1/8 by 7/8. Probably go for 56 inches total length.

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

Nice shaft size for a kid.... Ash will make a nice springy shaft at that size too! Are you planning on reinforcing the blade tip at all?? I always cut a dado at the tip of the blade where I insert a piece of ash with the grain running left to right glued in with epoxy so when you hit bottom or push off rocks, you have less chances of splitting the blade.

 

[memaquay]

I was thinking about putting ash at the bottom, but I won't be doing much "poling" with this one. If I find to be a little to flimsy for me, there's quite a few kids who will take it off my hands!

 

[memaquay]

Tried out my new beavertail this weekend. Initial thoughts are that it's pretty groovy! It is quite light for a paddle built by me, about the same weight as my Grey Owl Sugar Island. The narrow shaft feels super, it enables me to have a loser grip. The oversize grip I made is also very comfortable. The grey owl grip is completely enclosed in my hand, whereas my grip acts more like a platform. I noticed an immediate difference in performance between it and the sugar island. I was paddling a very tight twisty creek, the sugar island certainly gave me more control with draws and cross draws, but the Beaver tail was a lot more comfortable. I'll probably go through a phase where I use it a lot, and then go back to almost exclusively using the sugar island, but for now, it's a fun new play toy.

 

[Canotrouge]

Cool!! I like a grip that feels like a platform, That is why most of my grip are flatfish and wide. As for the sugar island performance, I'm sure you could get the same with the beaver tail when you put into it. I was doing pretty good with my ZRE or Levass when I was paddling them exclusively, I was even able to do good low brace and all, but now I'm sure I would end up in the drink if I would try!!

 

[Peach Canoe]

I made a Sugar Island out of Douglas fir a few years ago, and I tried something a little different for the shaft.

It started with my normal 1.25" square, followed by lines drawn on with a spar gauge, followed by the rendering of an eight-sided shaft using a small block plane and spokeshave. But that's where I left it. I knocked the edges off and rounded them a little, but it was clearly an eight-sided shaft-- and curiously, it feels very nice in the hand-- lots of feedback; it's tactile, alive.

The octagonal shaft is full dimension for 16" above the throat, and then tapers to roundish toward the grip. I wish I had a photo, but a dear friend fell in love with the paddle a couple of years ago, and well, you know how that goes.

You might be surprised how compelling this shape feels, and if you don't like it, just finish the shaft to round or oval.

 

[sweeper]

Its a Phase. That cover all the bases.

I saw a very nice Foxtail® this weekend but figure that might be a bit over the top telling SWMBO I got a canoe and a new paddle