Greenland Forum

The ridge is not a constant shape, it tapers from loom to tip. I use a curved chisel. I have one in process right now.

Excellent advice.  In my experience, here in New Jersey, there is a wood supplier that deals exclusively with outdoor structural wood, pressure treated, redwood and cedar for everything from pergolas, porches for contractors through playsets (swings, slides, etc).  I had brought them a paddle I carved which they found very entertaining (considering the projects they generally dealt with) and usually helped my find good redwood for carved (Greenland styled) storm and full length paddles.

I also coated them with  a very light fiberglass and epoxy + UV inhibiting varnish.

Well spoken Brian.   Defining 'authentic' is the has always been the purview of a power elite and has mostly served to value early and ancient artifact in their own collected coffers (museum and collections) while devaluing current production by the culture, often defined to just souvenir status maintaining economic positioning by said culture.

This is an important critique (postcolonial) that has been in discussion and debate among museums for the past thirty years, numerous books written, resulting in the deaccessing and return of many objects to the original culture of the makers.  There is also a recontextualization by historians of many of the narratives of the past.

I think it is important to realize, as we make these objects, as we have the benefit of many advantages that access provides, and our understanding of what is authentic is limited at best.

gabriel

I am always interested in seeing the results of a made paddle, knowing why you picked the particular design, and anything encountered that either helped or hindered completion.  I have made quite a few with stylistic shifts, mostly in the loom to fit my hands and shoulder width, sticking as much to tradition in the paddle area.  I found that a slight spine in the transition area between the loom and the paddle helped tremendously for indexing, as an example.

I would be interested to hear your results, or anybody else with their construction,  gabriel

That was my wood choice for carving paddles John, though Greenland style, both for it's extreme lightness and as a relatively soft wood.  Excellent workabilty with well sharpened tools.   It was not dent resistant, not so much an issue, I imagine reasonably strong, but as I mentioned before, I had used a shear fiberglass epoxy coating.  this was for additional strength and durability rather than water resistance.

The best part of the wood was that I found it to be dead straight  and stable, from a 2x4 through all the cutting and carving reductions (unusual in kiln dried wood).  I got to pick knot free from the selection, but that seemed to be easier than what I find for typical 2 bys- knot free seems to be very resinous in that selection.

I am a bit obsessive about sharp tools (I use a Japenese whet stone trio), and it did seem to dull blades as fast as any hard wood, I imagine there is a proportional silicone content.

I wonder what sort of minerals would harbor in driftwood in times past and it's affect on cutting tools?

Hi Dan, the simplest and most efficient hand tool to do that is a round wood rasp, like a file with pointies instead..

after, you can finish with sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.

That is a beautiful tool John, seems like it would make quick work of it.  It looks difficult to sharpen, though I would imagine similar to a gouge but scaled up.  I was wondering if there were a western equivalent in a spokeshave, having an double straight/curved (for outside radius) spokeshave in my collection, I only found one picture reference.  There are quite a few draw knives for larger scaled hollowing,

I think that the result of my research into this is that the crooked knife seems to be the most direct approach with the least amount of 'tool' (efficiency?) required to accomplish the inside curve.  It requires a similar skill set than any of the other approaches suggested.  Seems to be originally formed with beaver's teeth (the first experts;) by the Cree first nation, apparently  shifted to modified European knives when they became available.  I would be interested in how they would remove the temper then reharden them after bending.

I enjoyed all the different approaches suggested, nice to see such diversity in making.