canoe maker

Bushcraft Cree Completed

Last summer, I had worked on a bushcraft cree style paddle hacked out from a chunk of 2x6 spruce with an axe and finished off over a weekend with a crooked knife.


Crooked knife work; Paddle taking shape
With an hour of free time up at the cottage, I worked on cleaning up the blade and reducing the shaft thickness my angled crooked knife, a superb tool for finishing work.

For decoration, I thought I wanted to replicate some historic line designs found in some printed texts. Spruce isn't a good choice for wood-burning decoration so I figured I could use some of the left over Epifanes enamel paint from the cedar canvas canoe to add a nice bit of color.


Decorated Cree Paddles
In the end I came up with a slightly different pattern than Paddle (D) on the far right, a museum model piece from Fort Chimo now at the McCord Museum in Montreal. Using some masking tape and a cheap foam brush on hand, the painted accents were added easily enough.. Still, my hand isn't as stable working with messy paints so they are quite amateurish


Final Paddle


Blade Closeup