Anonymous Algonquin Couple Paddle Replica

Another unique paddle design replicated for the upcoming WCHA assembly  is from an illustration by an anonymous artist. Dated to between 1750-1780, the painting in the collection of the City of Montreal archive illustrates an Algonquin couple in period clothing.  The male figure holds a paddle over his shoulder.

Algonquine, Algonquin . - [ca 1750]-[ca 1780]

Ville de Montréal. Section des archives

CA M001 BM007-2-D27-P004

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The paddle has a fairly unique shape, a short blade design with recurved shoulders, a lengthy shaft and a distinct bobble shape grip. It seems very reminiscent of modern day SUP paddles hitting the market.

In any event, I had an idea to re-use an incomplete blank that was begun years ago and never finished. At the time, I used a narrow maple board and laminated some walnut edges to make a whitewater paddle with an experimental Battenkill Grip.

Laminating walnut edging

Original whitewater blank

In the end, I never really did much whitewater paddling and the finishing the blnk no longer became a priority. The short blade design seemed suitable to re-purpose into this display paddle but the overall shaft length was too short. So a simple shaft splice was done with some maple stock and the shaft extended. Here is a photo after the splice and with the blade roughly re-cut.

Ended up cutting the shaft down a bit more and used the bits to laminate a cube at the grip. The was eventually worked down to form a bobble grip similar to the original artwork. I had some blue and red Tremclad Rust paint on hand for the blade decoration, but ended up using a torch to burn the shaft and grip to a charred finish.  Here is the final result...

Circa 1750-1780 Algonquin Paddle Replica

Historic Paddle Photo: McCord Algonkian Bark canoe & paddles

Here's a circa 1870 photo of a hunter's camp in the collection of the McCord Museum...

Mealtime, Hunters' Shanty, Wild Lake, North of Chatham, QC, before 1865

Alexander Henderson (1831-1913)

Numéro D'accessionMP-1968.31.1.162

Gift of E. Dorothy Benson

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Tricky to spot, but on the far right is a collection of paddles leaning against a brace. The photo captures the single blade shape as well as the grip profiles

Paddle Closeup

The particular flattened grip shape is similar to the paddles recorded in figure 102 of Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America.

Figure 102:  Têtes de Boule  paddle. 

Historic Paddle Photo: Dan Sarazin Paddles

in 1970, Denis Alford recorded the construction of a birch bark canoe for the National Museums of Canada. The builder was Dan Sarazin of Golden Lake (now known as Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation). Alford's detailed records of the build appear in David Gidmark's book Building a Birchbark Canoe - The Algonquin Wabanaki Tciman but the original photo slides are now preserved in the Archives of the Canadian Museum of History.

Part of the set features a group of 4 paddles of varying lengths from this traditional Algonquin builder...

Summary Four paddles in different woods made by Dan Sarazin 

Author Alsford, Denis B., 1929-2004.

Description 1 slide col. 35 mm.
Control no. S72-3088
CD File no. CD94-68

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A few more photos reveal Sarazin's method of lashing the paddles to form a yoke for a portage demonstration.

Portaging

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 You can contrast that to an alternate lashing method of another builder from this photo in  Building the Chippewa Canoe by Robert E. Ritzenthaler.

"Chippewa Portage Method"

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NMAI Decorated Algonquin Paddle

A decorated Algonquin paddle from the National Museum of the American Indian. First time I've seen this decoration pattern and no idea about its significance but if the date of this paddle is correct (1780-1820) it shows that the flat extended grip has been in use for many centuries. This corroborates the circa 1770s Cree Paddle design I posted on before. Unfortunately there are no dimensions provided, but from the general shape of it, it would seem to make a beautiful solo paddle.



Date created: 1780-1820
Place: Eastern Canada
Collection history unknown; formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Salem (now the Peabody Essex Museum); acquired by MAI via an exchange with the Peabody Museum in 1963.
Catalog number:23/2290

Laminated Adirondack Guide Paddle - Part 2

When I last blogged about this paddle, I had come across a significant structural fault in the flattened grip area. A large crack filled with soft, punky wood emerged after shaving and sanding this area from its original 1 1/8" thickness. To "save" the paddle, a little emergency epoxy repair job was in order...the 1st time I've attempted something like this.


Dead wood crack & applying epoxy
After letting the epoxy set overnight, it was time to begin the vigorous process of sanding it down. Luckily, the direct sun on the balcony made working outdoors a very pleasant affair. I had to strip down to my undershirt because the sanding action warmed me up quick. Made for a fashion faux-pas photo especially with our now dead (but once highly productive) tomato plant in the background.



After checking out the grip, the bulbous palm area didn't quite agree with me, so I shaped it down to a more traditional triangular shape using some rasps. Pretty easy now that the area had been extensively thinned.


Before and After shot of shaping the grip

The different shaded walnut strips used to make this paddle gave the blade a bit of a streaked look. This reminded me of a time when I spotted a Barred Owl while paddling the Oxtongue River (just beyond the Western boundary of Algonquin Provincial Park on a day trip last year. Couldn't take a proper photo because while paddling a river solo with a significant current, my bird watching is limited to a quick use of binoculars with one hand while trying to brace the canoe with a paddle in the other. Unless I'm resting in a nice eddy, photos are tough to manage. Anyway, this stock photo shows the streaking pattern on the bird that I figured would blend with the walnut on the blade. Thought I would add some Eastern White Cedar leaves as an accent as well as a native inspired owl image (may sand off...not entirely happy with it) on the grip face.


Burning the blade & native owl on grip
All seemed well except that compared to the wonderful tight grain of Birch used for the Omer Sapsucker Paddle, the open grain of the Walnut & Poplar made for uneven burning and many blotchy spots. Not my best artwork but ultimately I was left with a pretty decent, extremly light, and very flexible paddle made from strips from the scrap pile. Can't wait to try this one out once the spring thaw hits and the cottage lake is open again.


Plain & Decorated Sides

May 5/08 UPDATE: This paddle has now been varnished. View it here.

Laminated Adirondack Guide Paddle - Part 1

While searching the net for different paddle designs, I came across a pic of two Adirondack Guide paddles and liked their look. Their distinguishing feature was a combination pear grip with an extra flattened area encompassing almost half the shaft length. The only other time I've seen this close up is with Turtle Paddle Works' Whip-Poor-Will paddle, but that one comes with a narrow beavertail blade. Instead, I opted to keep the shaft style but use the 28" Algonquin pattern blade listed in Gidmark's Canoe Paddles book.

This paddle was made up of extra strips I had on hand from my attempt at the laminated Greenland Kayak paddle made back in the fall. Just like that one, the canoe paddle would be made of a Yellow Poplar (Leriodendron tulipifera) shaft from a pre-planed 1 1/8th inch strip (cut to 58") and a blade of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) waste pieces. The photo sequence below shows the pieces lined up before cutting as well as the final orientation before gluing the blade. The 8ft long walnut strip (which was quite warped) was cut into 30" pieces for lamination against the poplar shaft and remaining bits of scrap walnut (one side square) were used to complete the blade. In the end, the width just measured that of the Algonquin style blade pattern at its widest point (5 1/4").


Leftovers for materials; Alignment; Dry Clamping & marking out of blade
The grip area was made with additional walnut waste pieces lying around and were oriented in such a manner as to be able to carve a regular mushroom head grip with a flattened extension of the upper shaft. Another board covered in waxed paper and setup on sawhorses served as the laminating beam. The strips were glued up with my usual adhesive, Gorilla Glue and clamped for 24 hrs.


Grip pieces; Wax paper laminating beam; Clamping & glue up
In the end the blank looked quite odd with all the waste pieces glued up, but it was more the sufficient to make a full paddle from these "scraps" so as not to waste the wood. While maybe not as aesthetic as a one-piece, it certainly allows for a more eco-friendly use of this precious resource. The actual paddle shape still needed to be cut out from the glued blank and that was done as part of my earlier post on the visit to The Carpenter's Square Do-It-Yourself woodshop.


Glued up blank & cut out paddle
The cut out paddle has been a breeze to plane and shave thus far. In one evening, I was able to do the work that nearly took 3 days on the Omer Birch paddle. The reason for this was because BEFORE the glue-up of the strips, I had lightly tested the grain with the spokeshave to ensure that all the strips aligned with the grain in the same direction. This way, the strokes would not need to be reversed when passing over the walnut & poplar, a mistake I had corrected from my earlier time-consuming error on the Laminated Jay Ottertail. From now on, every laminated paddle I intend to make will go through this initial test to save on the shaving time.

For the grip, I intended it to be a modified mushroom head style (like on the Walnut Kingfisher) with an flattened section to give the paddle more flex. Shaping involved cutting two grooves with a round rasp on either end, spooning out the wood between these indents, and then using the round rasp again to undercut the head of the grip in a slightly curved pattern. By shaping the undercut backwards like this, I could stop to check for feel and ensure I didn't remove too much wood. The pics below show the rough job, although I signficantly cleaned up the work since taking these shots. Don't know why the photos resulted in a blue tone, but in the 4th image you can spot a reddish smudge on the grip face. While holding onto the grip area, I scraped across three fingers on my left hand with the rasp - a careless and painful mistake that tore off layers of skin while smearing blood all over the shaving horse and onto the paddle grip. I guess now I've formed a blood-bond with this one.



Carving the grip
With bandaged fingers unable to bend at the knuckle because of my thoughtless mistake, I thought I'd begin the sanding phase on the bulk of the paddle using the orbital sander. All this while Toronto experienced another massive snowfall with -16 Celsius windchill. So I bundled up and did some work outside.


Initial sanding with the ROS
This revealed a major crack with soft dead wood in the walnut when I sanded down part of the flattened grip. I had some left over Epoxy from the knife making kit and figured that by filling the knot with epoxy and then sanding it down, it would prevent the crack from spreading and the dead wood from chipping out. Time will tell if I made the right decision here.


Epoxying the crack to strengthen and prevent weakening

This is where I am now...final sanding, shaping, and repair. Stay tuned for the second part of this post which will have to wait until I can remove the bandaids on my three injured fingers.


April 1/08 Update: Part 2 of the post now online.