Royal Trust circa 1860 Mi'kmaq Paddle Reproduction

The British Royal Family has recently consolidated all of their acquired artworks and historic gifts into a new collection called the Royal Collection Trust. Included in this monumental global collection of artefacts are First Nations items gifted to various royal members during their visits to Canada.

A fascinating set is a Mi'kmaq sourvenir bark canoe that came with two dolls, two pair of paddles, a fishing spear and miniature basket. The set was presented then 18 year old Prince Albert Edward (the future King Edward VII) during his first visit to Canada in the summer of 1860.

Mi'kmaq Model canoe and dolls  1860

RCIN 84332

Royal Collection Trust

© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

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The paddle set showcases two similar designs which look like two larger stern paddles and two smaller paddles with pole grips used by the bow paddler. Both feature a pointed spear-like tip

Mi'kmaq model paddles 1860

RCIN 84332

Royal Collection Trust

© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

Source Link

While the model canoe is obviously not a true replica, being decorated with dyed porcupine quills and lacking an accurate number of ribs, the paddles do match some existing artworks from the era.

Paddle Detail from Wigwams at Pointe de Levy, Lower Canada

ca. 1836

Artist:  Whitmore, George St. Vincent, 1798-1851.

Credit: W.H. Coverdale Collection of Canadiana

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I decided to reproduce the larger stern paddles with the flattened grip section adjusting to my preferred paddle length and scaling the grip width down to more realistic dimensions. The spear tipped blade is very quiet in the water compared to wider blade tips creating much less splash during each paddle stroke. As the originals were left un-decorated, I simply burned the paddle details into the face of the blade.

Summer 2019 - Working on new paddles

Any morsel of free time was spent working on paddles this summer. At the moment, I have 3 distinct designs being worked on. First up is a 58" replica of the circa 1860's Woodland paddle collected from the St. John River area in New Brunswick featured earlier in this post here.

NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS (Malecite?) CANOE PADDLE

Circa 1860
5 ft. 3 3/4 in. 
Maple

I didn't have any birds-eye to work with, but just used plain soft maple. Still have to work on symmetry and the grip area, but here is the progress so far. It will likely be stained to match the honey-toned patina of the original.

1860 St. John River paddle in soft maple

Simultaneously, I've been working down a choice piece of spruce to make a reproduction of a pole grip Cree paddle dated to circa 1930-1935. The original with a black painted blade is in the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.

Pagaie

Géographie :  Amérique –  Amérique du Nord –  Canada

Culture :  Amérique –  Cree

Date :  1930-1935

Dimensions et poids :  158.5cm  x 12.5cm, 647 g

Donateur :  Paul Coze

Précédente collection :  Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)

Numéro d'inventaire :  71.1931.44.155

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My version was hewn with an axe and turned out ok except for a cumbersome knot at the top of the pole grip which created a slight bulge in an otherwise straight shaft. It was easily worked down with a crooked knife creating lots of wood shavings and bits for the evening camp fires.

c1930-1935 Cree Paddle in spruce

The inspiration for this final paddle is an illustration by famed Canadian artist, Arthur Heming (1870-1940), who travelled with voyageur brigades at the very end of the fur trade era. This specific artwork depicted a hardy voyageur  climbing up a steep slope with a tumpline loaded with a crate and large sacks of supplies. A narrow paddle with an oval bobble grip acts as a support stick.

This particular illustration was selected to visualize a description of a tough uphill portage by the canoe party in J.W. Tyrell's Across the sub-Artics of Canada, published in 1898 and available on Archive.org. Heming accompanied Tyrell on this trip and sketched many realistic portraits of the crew and environment. It stands to reason that the accomplished artist drew this paddle design from a realistic sample in the field.

My version was made from a narrow basswood board and also worked down with a crooked knife and spokeshave. Still not finished yet but it is coming along...

Heming Voyageur replica

Here are all three paddle side by side for comparison. Interesting to see that in their raw states, they all have similar pale tone. 

2019 Summer's work so far

Circa 1850 Eastern Woodland Paddle Replica

I've started a batch of replicas based on some historic paddles in various museums and artworks. One intriguing paddle is  Artifact Number III-X-320  in the collection of the Canadian Museum of History (formerly the Candian Museum of Civilization). Described loosely as affiliated with the "Eastern Woodlands" culture, it features a two-toned painted decoration on the blade.  This dual tone motif has caught my attention recently and appears in some historic artworks by James Peachey.

Artifact Number: III-X-320
Inscription: incised on one side of blade "A. HATT"
Begin Date 1845/01/01
End Date 1855/12/31
Measurements Length 125.0 cm, Width 9.0 cm, Depth 2.7 cm
Cultural Affiliation: Eastern Woodlands

Closeup of Dual tone paddle

 "A View of the Ruins of the Fort at Cataraqui taken in June 1783 by James Peachey" 

 Credits:  Library and Archives Canada C-2031
Full post here

Normally, I like to adjust the paddle dimensions if the paddle is not my preferred functional length of 58", but this time, a decision was made to replicate the design in its original size. This one would be a relatively short 49" long.

My version was made out of basswood, a light-coloured and easy carving wood.  Unfortunately, after taking multiple photos of this paddle (and others) during the carving stages earlier this summer, the memory card was damaged and is now unreadable. All those images can't seemed to be recovered. Dah!

At any rate, after the paddle had been carved, some MinWax Gel Stain  was used to darken the paddle shaft and give it an aged look, something that might be done on future paddles as well. For the paint, I ended up using Tremclad oil-based rust paint which offers nice opaque coverage on the wood as well as being waterproof. The whole thing was finished with multiple coats of protective oil.

Ca 1850 "Eastern Woodlands" replica

The small bulb of a grip is just barely wider than the shaft and is most comfortable when holding the paddle laterally rather than a typical grip across the top. The weather has turned chilly and windy so testing this one out will likely need to wait until spring.

Side by Side comparison

More Spoons

While not directly related to paddle making , I've been trying to be eco-conscious and use the scraps of wood left over from the process to make some more wooden utensils. Tonight, I decided to try my hand at free carving some spoons from a piece of Basswood cutoff. Basswood is a remarkable wood for carving and with a piece left over from cutting out the blade pattern on the 17th Century Kayak Replica, I got to work on a warm evening out on the balcony. At first I tested the grain for carving direction and then settled on cutting the stock in half for easier shaping. Using the Crooked Knife provided by John Lindman's Canoe kit, a Frosts Spooning Knife, and my trusty Mora, the basswood piece was quickly shaped.


The basswood stock


Progressive shots of the carving process
I still don't have the carving finesse to perfectly carve a smooth spoon without the need for abrasives. So after sanding with various grits, a decent basswood scoop spoon had formed.


Sanded down
With the other half of the basswood scrap, I tried another more elaborate design and sketched a spoon design with a broader, flat handle. This one turned out okay and I might consider some basic decorative chipcarving on this one since the wood is so soft and suitable. Already ordered a introductory chip-carving book from the Library.


Scrap wood; Roughed out spoon
I've been going through a bit of a creative rut regarding the decoration lately...can't seem to come to a decision about the decoration pattern. For now, I've leave these blank and come back to them later.


The final basswood spoons

17th Century Kayak Paddle Replica - Part 3

I've been steadily working on the 17th Century Kayak Paddle Replica begun at the beginning of May. The blades have all been shaved down to the appropriate thickness and the oval shaped shaft has been sanded down. With the paddle wetted and re-sanded, it was time to begin the decoration.


Shaving completed; Wetting the grain
The group requesting this for their retiring principal wanted a loon image. Basswood is a fantastic wood for pyrography and its light colour and tight grain mean a great contrast with darkened tones. Here's the loon image I came up with...


Loon image on one blade
For the other blade, the group decided on an inspirational quote which was expanded to appropriate size using the Monotype Corsiva font on MS Word. I wish I could free hand, but I'm no Calligrapher. I'm embarassed to say I had no idea who the author of the quote was (Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire Co.) but my excuse is that I spend more time paddling on the water than driving all day on premium brand rubber tires.


The group's inspirational quote
After varnishing with 5 coats of Glossy Minwax® Helmsman® Spar Urethane (sanding between each coat with 0000 Fine Steel Wool) I used some tan coloured leather lace to tie 3-lead-5-bight decorative Turk’s Head knots for drip rings. These were sealed in place with a little more varnish to prevent the leather from swelling when it gets wet.


The unvarnished and varnished pics


Leather Turk's Head drip ring - unvarnished

Kind of interesting given my Turkish heritage that absolutely no one in Turkey has worn a turban since 1826. That year, Sultan Mahmut II banned the turban as a symbol of growing religious authority and replaced it with the more "modern" Fez which in turn was later banned by Ataturk as a symbol of corrupt feudalism of the Ottoman era. Today only tacky tourists and traditional ice cream vendors in touristy areas walk around with these scarlet monstrosities. On my last visit to the homeland back in '06, I spent some quality peaceful time exploring neglected Ottoman graveyards that were off the tourist trail. Ottoman headstones are amazing works of art with elaborate stone carvings written in the poetic (but now a forgotten old Ottoman Script). I had been studying Ottoman Turkish for about a year before my trip just so I could translate the various inscriptions all over Istanbul. Interesting that each headstone is decorated with replicas of the the headgear of the deceased as a sign of rank and position in society. You could tell who died before 1826 (Turbaned gravestone) with those who passed away after (Fezzed headstones) with those who died in the Republican era (Plain grave marker). If anyone cares to know, there's a Flickr Group devoted to this esoteric artform called Mezar Taslari with some interesting shots submitted by members.

Anyway, I digress...Designing and working on this paddle has been a rewarding experience, especially since it was commissioned for a well deserving recipient who'll hopefully enjoy it during his retirement.


Posing with the work before it's off to its new owner

By the way, if any reader cares to read the previous postings on this paddle, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

17th Century Kayak Paddle Replica - Part 2

While I had some time today, I began working on the 17th C. Paddle Replica commission piece. It took 4 days to securely bend and glueup all the cherry edges because of my limited number of clamps. The whole process went smoothly enought although there were some small gaps left on the tips where the strips didn't sit flush with the curvature of the paddle.


Clamped cherry edges
For the exposed basswood tips, I thought I would use some of the left over cherry bits and glue them edgewise for strength. I had cut two pieces that would fit into the tip areas, shaped the edges with a rasp, and put them into position. Given the fact that clamping tightly would not be an option here, I ended up using some 5-minutes Epoxy in this area which fills gaps nicely and doesn't need clamping. At this stage, it looks pretty crappy but I'm confident that I can shape it into a decent tip. I'm thinking of covering it in a layer of epoxy thickened with with sawdust filler when it is finally shaped to form a bit of resin tip from a technique I read about on BlueStem Paddler.


Cherry tips cut out; Epoxied into position
Today was a decent day in Toronto, so I ended up on the balcony for some rough planing. The basswood is really easy to carve and the cherry isn't bad either. After a short time I began drowning in shavings and had quickly worked both blades down to the level where I'll continue with the spokeshave later.


Shaving down the blades; The springtime view of the city

JUNE 19/08 Update: Paddle is now complete and final part has been posted

17th Century Kayak Paddle Replica - Part 1

My Arctic buddy Anne recently commissioned a paddle from me for a retiring school Principal who's taking up kayaking. While the tiring experience with my still-unfinished Aleut paddle had me swore off double blades for a while, I figured that trying out a new constuction technique would maybe make it worth getting back into the double blade stuff.

I found a great little page documenting traditional kayak and paddle designs built by Harvey Golden. His page on Replica Traditional Paddles has some wonderful photos. Inspired by his work, I decided to try a 17th Century West Greenland paddle (no.13 on his main pic). This was quite different than most Greenland paddles marketed today which are quite linear, narrow and simple to build. This one looked like two mini ottertail blades on an elongated shaft. In addition, Harvey's replica had plastic edging to mimic the whalebone edging used by many Inuit.

For this piece, I went with one of the lightest woods suitable for paddlemaking - Basswood, also known as American Lime (Tilia americana).

Now that I think of it, I could have easily obtained some authentic whale bone edging last summer as a huge Bowhead whale carcass (decomposing for at least 4-5 years according to our Arctic guides) had washed up on shore near our Basecamp on uninhabitated Somerset Island. My Flickr album shows some pics of the huge bones of this behemoth. The stinky mess was the source of our 30+ polar bear sightings during the week and wouldn't have been appropriate to take back as a souvenir. There were also some "beached" whale bones located some 20km inland and at 75m above sea level in a virtual arctic desert where the ocean once covered. Our guide mentioned a sample of the bones had been dated at 7000 years old and I'm not a believer in taking such dated and well preserved relics away from their site of origin (like some sort of whale grave robber).


Beached bowhead carcass; 7000 year old whale bones at 75m above sea level
Instead of using whale bone, I thought laminating a thin strip of cherry edging around the blade would be both decorative and functional, as basswood is light but not very durable. This would mean that the cherry would likely need to be steam-bent and glued around the gentle curve of the blades - a process I've never tried but seemed achievable.


The Basswood blank; Strip of cherry for edging
I figured I could Macgyver a basic steaming setup using some stuff in storage. Specifically - the single burner electic stovetop obtained earlier, a large metal tea kettle with cylindrical spout, and some plastic tubing. I set it up on a wooden plank layed across an open drawer in the kitchen so that the steaming tube would point under the exhaust fan to suck up the excess steam. With this rig, I ended up steaming a single piece of cherry strip that had been pre-soaked overnight in the tub.


The steaming setup
While the strip was steaming, I prepared the table with some waxed paper. I laminated this inside because the rain had moved in and the balcony wasn't feasible. With all my clamps layed out, I realized that I'd need a square edge to clamp properly. Good thing I had kept the blade off-cuts from my bandsaw session at the Carpenter's Square. Using one such scrap piece, I could clamp at least one edge square. By the time I had layed the glue down the centermark, the cherry strip had been steaming for a little over 10 minutes. It was already quite soft and somewhat pliable, so it was immediatedly bent around the edge, clamped loosely with trigger clamps, and then secured tightly with stronger F-Clamps.


Glueing down the centre line; Clamping; Underside showing smooth bend
An inch of cherry strip was purposely left to protude past the blade end because I intend to laminate a cherry tip after the edges are done. Normally this polyurethane glue completely sets in 2 hours but I'll be leaving the clamps on for a full day to let the cherry properly dry out. Given my limited number of clamps, I'll only be able to do one edge a day. But if the others work as easily as this was, the carving process will be good to go very shortly

MAY 8/08 Update: Part 2 has been posted