Making A Pretty Good Canoe Paddle

Some of the strongest and best-looking canoe paddles ever! Author/craftsman Nick Engler builds a wooden paddle with a reinforced tip, reinforced grip, and a unique spine that buttresses the blade for those occasions when you need to push off. Just what you need if you must occasionally use your paddles for poling as well as paddling. Additionally, this is (mostly) a hand tool project that you can make from scrapwood. Nick glues up the paddles from small bits of contrasting hardwoods, then shapes them with planes, rasps, and scrapers.

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And thank you so much for your time and interest!

[idkthatxool]

Looks like it would feel so nice in my hands. 😊

[johnbesharian]

This is an amazing project and presentation of it. First thing I thought of when I saw the link's image was "Ron Armstrong". He was the major third of the ownership of Stars Guitars in San Francisco, CA. and he was always thinking of new projects to make using the same principles that were used on Neck-Through-The-Body string instruments. One of the things about the construction is Book Matching the components so that as they moved with the moisture content of the environment, they would counter act one another. [Put your hands together as if you were praying, now open them keeping your outside (little finger) edges together and you'll see what I mean.] Great demonstration of hand tool work. Almost a lost art these days. Bye the by, the sound track is absolutely perfect. I'm a former professional musician and this one is just wonderful. Thank you. Oh, yes, I was also the Guitar Doctor at Stars.

[sethwarner]

Pretty DAMN good, Ide say!! Or, just pretty!

[therealsparkman]

Now that's what you call handcrafted! Very nice work. Love your skills and jig ideas. Cheers!

[marshallmurrell]

I made a pair of paddles for my son awhile back. I used ash for the shaft, and a combination of walnut, cedar and purple heart for the blades and handles. I don't recommend purple heart for such a project. Although the finished product is beautiful, I had a lot of issues with tear out. It is hard to work, even with spokeshave and sandpaper. At any rate, I now have templates for four different styles of paddles. I relied heavily on the book by Graham Warren and David Gidmark. I went to school on the ones I made. I would look forward to making more for someone. Some things I would do differently next time.

[epicweasley]

This is now on my future projects list. Thank you and let me also say that your channel is a goldmine😊

[ЕвгенийИванов-чм]

Очень красиво и интересно. Спасибо большое за работу)

[smackerlacker]

This guy has an expensive bandsaw, but he cuts this by hand because he's a woodworker.
I dig that. Very groovy.

[bluesideup]

The first video I just saw on your channel was the Harbor Freight Bench Plane redo. It was in my feed for a long time, but just prior to that I watched a bunch of vids on Greenland paddle making. As I was watching the bench plane vid I couldn't take my eyes off the paddles in the background. (especially the long one screen right). Nice job.

[troycongdon]

Cool video. I like the reinforcements you have shared. I was worried about short sections along the grain on the handle end and was thinking of layering like plywood to address the problem but I like your dowel solution more. Why did you choose two short sections instead of one through length of dowel?

[mfait]

Beautiful - I’d use the bandsaw though.

[peterbarlow]

My antique single billet large diameter diagonal grain spruce Old Town paddles don’t have any varnish on the grips. It looks like they were dipped and hung at finishing

[gnothisauton]

Love the build but it would be nice if you narrated over the top or used subtitles to explain what woods & finish you used, along with explanations for why you did things a certain way, such as using two short dowels instead of one long one.

[atbmanboberconsulting]

What is thickness of blade at center board? Trying to figure out taper at edges. Looks like about a 1/4” at edge - maybe 3/4 where glued to center shaft?

[taniarichards]

What do you use as a finish on your paddle?

[bavaro]

So there's no concave side to the lower part?
I was going to make some paddles and I figured I'd make the paddle part alittle concave/convex. Would that not be good?

Also would it be better to use a lighter weight hardwood or would it be to trivial a difference?

[averymixon]

Just curious, what are the dimensions of the center shaft (the piece that everything else is glued onto)? Thanks! Beautiful work

[jehowa]

I am wondering, what is the weight of these beautys? I want to build myself a custom paddle for Dragonboat but I am worried the paddle would become too heavy for fast race paddeling or not strong enough for the tension and break

[rachelwetherington]

Is there a talk through/explanation for this video?

[chadnevels]

Have those paddles been Stillwater River tested? If they can hold up in that water, then they should be able to withstand anything.