canoe maker

Blog reader & contributor, Luc Poitras has sent more pics in of his paddle creations...

Here's a set of sorts made from cedar. The two smaller ones were carved for his lucky grandson. The off-white coloured paddle is from spalted maple



Here's a beauty carved from Tamarack that Luc carved with just a crooked knife. Hoping I'll be able to source out a Tamarack log this summer and try to carve a similar one.


Lastly, Luc's wife found an old, 70" paddle at a garage sale. It looks to be a roughly carved blade meant for hard use. Luc mentioned it is likely birch but the paint and varnish job on the blade has really covered up the grain pattern.

From this Ebay Seller is a 58" paddle with a large narrow blade and a nubby style grip. Credit again to Luc P for sending me the link. The paddle's overall shape looks quite similar to Cree Style paddle blades posted on in the past, although to my eye, it looks as though this design would be quite blade heavy and unbalanced.




This is from the same seller that featured a huge, 96" northwoods style paddle a while back as well as the 84" Mustard Yellow painted paddle from the post on February 7th..

From February's current selection page of Cherry Gallery Antiques...

Blog reader, Luc P, sent a link of a vintage canoe paddle from this seller on Ebay. It's another big one -  84" - covered with a mustard yellow paint. The seller lists it as a "lovely old primitive Indian made wooden paddle"

Superb blogger of Indigenous Boats, Bob Holtzman, has posted some personal photos of canoe-related exhibits at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Included in this display are some wonderful closeups of a favourite paddle design I've always wanted to see with my own eyes. It has served as the inspiration for my own cherry interpretations (posts here and here). It looks to the be the paddle illustrated in fig. 72 of  Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Adney sketched 1/2 of the blade pattern, included some dimensions and identified the paddle as a 71" long (180cm), maple wood Passamaquoddy dated to 1849.





Despite the difficulty in photographing dimly lit museum pieces behind glass, Bob was able to get some shots of the paddle on display.







The paddle was captioned with the following info...

 "The blade of this elaborately decorated paddle is painted green. The double-curve design was executed by removing the paint while it was still wet. The stepped motif and crosshatching are suggestive of Penobscot or Passamaquoddy manufacture. The handle exhibits graceful carving and shows much indication of use." 

Until now, the only photo of this paddle I've seen was the official museum pic showcasing the white scroll design on the blade.




Closer inspection reveals that that scroll pattern of the official pic and the display model are different. Now I'm wondering if the paddle is painted on both sides with slightly different scrolled patterns or if the museum has 2 distinct paddles in their collection.

Back in 2010, Bob also sent links and photos to some paddles at the University of Maine's Hudson Museum. It included a paddle with an attractive, segmented style grip.

Came across the strange video postings of Vimeo User Kind Eyez which feature some reworked footage of flatwater paddling master, Omer Stringer. I've never seen action footage of the Algonquin Park legend before so these video experiments are a real treat, despite the funky soundtrack and optical effects.

Here's the first clip showcasing a basic cruise in Omer's heeled position. Although tough on the knees, this is the type of paddling is what I find most relaxing and actually comfortable for the back.



This next vid has some slow motion capture of Omer's famed "C stroke" used to power his custom build cedar canvas design.




Back in '08, I made a Yellow Birch paddle based on the blade design from Omer's little booklet, The Canoeist's Manual. It used to be sold for a the amazing low price of 1 Canadian Dollar but the cost of living has made this little gem go up 100%...now $2.

"Omer's canoe is also unique. He began with a 15-foot Chestnut Chum, built in New Brunswick. When it was under construction, he asked that the cedar plank-and-rib shell be left without inwales, thereby allowing him to vary the sheer line after the shell was removed from the form. He then increased the depth of the canoe to 15 inches and reduced the bow height by 1-1/2 inches. With weights, he rounded out the ribs in the center of the canoe slightly. This rounding produced a canoe that was deeper and a bit more tender and maneuverable than the original Chum."

Today, this canoe is hanging in the Algonquin Park visitor's Centre (km 43)...it's the faded red one.







Photo Credit: Andre Cloutier from WCHA Forums