Push Paddle

Youtuber North61 recently posted a short video about his hand-made paddle made specifically for use with a freighter canoe. After some work with a froe, drawknife and crooked knife, he ended up with a 7 foot 6 inch push paddle for the grand total of $5.00. Here's a shot video of his work...

A thread on the CCR forums has some more details as well. Poster HOOP pointed out that these large paddles were used with freighter canoes in Fort Severn, Ontario. Here's a historic pic

Douglas Kakekaspan of Fort Severn hewing a new paddle on the Black Duck River
Date July, 1953
Place BLACK DUCK RIVER (ONT.)

Archives of Ontario

Item Reference Code: C 330-14-0-0-165

Some readers of the blog might recall that paddling friend Mike O organized a canoe restoration project in Fort Severn last summer. One of the builders on the project, Doug Ingram of Red River Canoe documented modern day freighter canoe paddles still used in this region today. Here is that post with more pics for anyone interested in these paddle designs.