Thursday, May 27, 2010

Mark L's Exotic Wood Voyageur Paddle

Mark Lafontaine's blog recently had a post about his latest paddle creation, a 61.5 inch "modern voyageur" design made of exotic Lacewood (Grevillea robusta) and ash. I've stayed clear of using exotic hardwoods mostly because I've read they are hard on the handtools and don't plane very well without tearing. But after seeing the gorgeous lacewood grain on Mark's paddle, this inconvenience looks to be well worth the effort.


Mark's Lacewood & Ash Voyageur Design


Lacewood grain pattern


Laminated grip

More pics of Mark's efforts as well as a synopsis of things he learned with this project can be seen on the original full post here.



4 comments:

Bryan Sarauer said...

I look forward to seeing this paddle in person! Hopefully he brings it along for his National Canoe Day Paddle which is coming up.

I have the day off tomorrow and Mark has me thinking I should spend some time paddle building again. I have a couple of kid's paddles that I should really finish up since paddling season is here (though our weather doesn't seem like it at the moment).

Cheers,
Bryan

Murat said...

Mark's work with the lacewood really got me intrigued to use it on a future laminated paddle. Thanks for reminding me about the National Canoe Day event.

Hope you got in some paddle making time during your day off.

Anders said...

Good day, I was wondering if anyone here takes orders for canoe paddles or knows someone who makes Voyageur style trekking paddles?

Murat said...

Hello Anders. This is a hobby site where myself and a few others post their hand-made paddle creations. Not aware of any major paddle manufacturer making this paddle design commercially. However, plans for this style of blade are featured in Graham Warren's book, Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide for Making Your Own. It should be available in bookstores online and has recently been republished and updated.

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