Double bladed paddle design sources

[BillyBudd]

Am seeking plans from which to build a double bladed paddle. Would like to make it light -- hollow, of local spruce. Plan sources? Comments on blade design, length, one piece of two, etc.?

[Jon Etheredge]

There are plans for a double bladed paddle drawn by L. Frances Herreshoff in <U>Sensible Cruising Designs</U> by Roger Taylor. They are in the chapter about construction of his dory style canoe.

I have built 4 or 5 paddles to this design and they worked fine in the canoes and flatwater kayaks that I built. I built the paddles out of lumberyard spruce and they were reasonably lightweight although they do not have hollow looms. The blade is a spoon shape with hollowed face and curved back.

It just occurs to me that you might be looking for a whitewater kayak paddle. The Herreshoff plans are probably not suitable for whitewater use.

[Steve Lansdowne]

I built mine for a double paddle canoe from plans in Mac McCarthy's Featherweight Boatbuilding book (which tells how to build the Wee Lassie). His are similar to those designed by Herreshoff, Culler, and others. I've found that having a ferrule in the middle to take the paddle apart comes in very handy. One can thus pole oneself off logs as one would do with snow ski poles if the canoe won't quite go over the log in the water, and using half the paddle as one would do in a non-double paddle canoe is handy when paddling through dense plant foliage in the water.

[Rob Hazard]

Before you go building your own paddle, I strongly suggest that you borrow a few and try them. They come in lots of different lengths, blade sizes and shapes, and feather angles, both right- and left-handed.
A paddle needs to fit you just like a pair of shoes, and making one involves enough effort that you will be disappointed if all your work goes into a paddle that isn't right for your physique and paddling style. Better to find one that you really like, then measure it and copy it.

[BillyBudd]

Right. Thanks. We've tried out various paddles, liked most but seem especially fond of exactly the sort that was mentioned: a spoon shaped blade. A Herreshoff! Never would have guessed that. I'll get the book from the library. Length we've known about as wife is shorter that me, and we try different sizes out all the time. The paddling is in ponds and rivers, not whitewater stuff although wife is very fond of that stuff. But I think her Fiddlehead, when built, will not be a candidate for that sort of use. Does everyone but a protective edge of epoxy on the blade tips?

[Chris Stewart]

Though not the spoon-shaped blades you're fond of, you might at least consider the Greenland style kayak paddle. Very simple and easy to build.

http://www.qajaqusa.org/QK/makegreen2.pdf

[Brian Palmer]

I built the Hereschoff style paddle for an 11.5 ft double paddle canoe from lumberyard spruce, using a ferrule from Chesapeake Lightcraft.

I do not think you could make this paddle much lighter by making the shaft or loom hollow. Most of the swing weight is in the blades, anyway.

I put epoxy on the tips and that seems to make them harder.

-- Brian

[BillyBudd]

What are the reasons, if anyone knows, for the differences in design between the spooned "Herresehoff" blade and the Greenland style? Is is that the Greenland paddle is for the open sea and control while the spooned blade for protected waters, for competitive "go"? This is an interesting twist to the query!

[NormMessinger]

Wild guess: Wide boards are hard to come by in Greenland.

[FG]

Much more than I know!

1)

[FG]

Sorry!

1) more comfortable paddling method that is easier on the shoulders.

2) use of extended paddle for leverage easier as you can slide the paddle between your hands and hold near the end of the blade.

3) paddles are easier to make.

[sr. jigaboni]

yeah. Been to Greenland? Not many trees. Their boats and paddles were (are?) made of driftwood.

I don't know about racing with a spoon blade, as I only use the Inuit style, but not many folks outrun me.

Think of the Inuit style paddle as an airplane wing or propeller; it slices the water and uses the principle of lift to move you rather than using brute force to push you through the water.

They are light, easy to use and stow, hard to break, and easy to reinforce... cap the ends with hard wood or bone.

my .02$

[Chris Stewart]

Originally posted by BillyBudd:
What are the reasons, if anyone knows, for the differences in design between the spooned "Herresehoff" blade and the Greenland style? Well, since the Europeans learned about kayaks from the Greenlanders, the question really isn't why the Greenland paddle is different, but why did the Europeans change what existed before. I suspect the idea for the offset blade came from rowing, where feathering of the oars to reduce wind resistance is common. The "modern" blade shapes provide more power and acceleration.

I believe that paddlers who use the Greenland paddles do so partially because they are easier to use when rolling, are less tiring to use when paddling a long time, are easy and inexpensive to make (a 2x4 of WRC is all you need), and are more "traditional."

There are frequent threads about Greenland paddles on the Greenland Technique Forum, and on the similar Aleut paddles on the Baidarka list.

http://www.qajaqusa.org/cgi-bin/GreenlandTechniqu eForum_config.pl (http://www.qajaqusa.org/cgi-bin/GreenlandTechniqueForum_config.pl)

http://www.rtpnet.org/robroy/baidarka/

[ 08-24-2004, 07:43 AM: Message edited by: Chris Stewart ]

[J. Labaree]

A couple of the kayak designs that Mystic Seaport has also come with paddle drawings. I made the Herreshoff paddle from plans I thought I got from Mystic, but can't find them on their website. You might call and ask. It was a while ago, so I could be wrong. Very nice paddle. I didn't epoxy the ends, but I did lay in a bit of hard wood (apple, I think) at the tip.

kayak plans at Mystic Seaport (http://www.mysticseaport.org/research/ro-shipsplans.cfm?mtyp=vesseltype&mclass=5&mkind=research#itemclass)

[Todd Bradshaw]

After using euro-style paddles for 30 years (good ones - the best money can buy, Prijons, Lendalls, Schaeffers, Kobers, Werners and some hollow-shafted Beran sprint paddles) I switched to Greenland paddles last year and I'm certainly not going back. Once you get used to them and how naturally and effortlessly you can use the entire Greenland paddle, the euro-style paddle feels like a clumsy stick with two awkward, bulky blades stuck on it's ends. You really start to wonder why on earth the euro-style ever became the common form of double paddle. Granted, if you're paddling in fast moving shallow streams where you can only get 8" of blade in the water before hitting bottom they wouldn't be the best choice, but for open water touring I'm amazed at how much better they are. These days, my $350 Werner Carbon Camano sits on the back deck as a spare and I'm paddling with a modified Home Depot cedar 2x6. As far as I can tell, the best thing many paddlers could do would be to go back to the old style and really learn how to get the most out of their paddle.

[ 08-24-2004, 08:57 PM: Message edited by: Todd Bradshaw ]

[BillyBudd]

So if Todd, expert canoe guy, uses the thin paddle breadth, what's going on? Here's something I noticed when I was living in mostly primal Papua New Guinea: the paddles from the freshwater lake regions of the Sepik River were sort of broad whereas the paddles used on ocean going canoes were more narrow. Why? Not from a lack of trees, that is for sure. It is the same question based on the observation that native cultures seem to prefer narrow breadth blades in the open ocean. And, unless length makes an optical illusion, I'd guess that most oars on the likes of whaling boats have narrow breadths too. Perplexed? Me too. :confused:

[htom]

Like he said, in eight inches or a foot of water, you're not going to be doing rolls and do need more area in the paddle. In the ocean or a big lake you're going to be doing rolls and don't need the area.

As far as "why change", humans seem to have firm beliefs that "newer is better" and "different is better", so if it's new AND different it MUST be better, right?

;)

[ 08-26-2004, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: htom ]

[sr. jigaboni]

I actually find the narrower style paddle, which I use even in my wee lassie, is much harder to break and easier to pole with. The tip can stay pretty chunky, yet still be shaped enough to work as an effective foil; plus, hard wood tips are easy to add as extra poling armor.

I'm also not a big roller, don't really like being in the water, which is the reason for the boat. can and will, but don't usually.

I would never jam my canoe paddle (it has epoxied edges) into the bottom for fear of breaking the wide, relatively thin blade. I could probably break out a windshield with my skinny paddle.

the bottom line, though, is you become used to what you use, and as each different style requires different methods, it don't really matter. FWIW the Olympics certainly proved the wide bladed feathered paddle with offset blades and bent shafts rule the whitewater scene.

BTW I paddle mostly small rivers, streams, and lakes, with the occasional bay trip, in a SOF kayak and icky-covered-strip canoe.

[Tom Lathrop]

Here is the type of double blade paddle that we like locally. It was designed by Marc Pettingill, has spooned paddles and is very simple to build from a shaft and 3-4mm plywood. The blades can also be used as an effective boathook. This feature alone makes them extremely handy in a kayak. I'd not trade for the fanciest cabon fiber versions.

Woodenboat issue #132 shows them.

Pettingill, Marc F., author:/"The Widgeon: Design Your Own Double-Bladed Paddle," 132:89