Son's Spiderman paddle salvaged from a previous mistake

After carving the sassafras tripping paddle for my elder son this summer, little brother kept asking if he was getting a paddle too. This became an opportunity to salvage  a ruined paddle that had warped horribly during a decoration attempt to scorch the surface with a torch.

Warping of shaft after scorching surface

There was no way to completely eliminate the severe warping, but the paddle was reshaped into a functional design for an unwary three year old. As inspiration, I aimed to replicate the shape of a circa 1891 ceremonial paddle documented in the following Smithsonian photo.

Iroquois Tribe: Portrait of Viroqua's Oldest Brother, Jesse Martin, and his Great Niece

CULTURE: Iroquois Mohawk

DATE: prior to 1891

Photo Lot 24 SPC Ne Iroquois Mohawk NM 24145 00782400

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

LOCAL NUMBER: NAA INV 00782400 | OPPS NEG SI 5308

Image Source Link   

The dual tone motif has also been seen in other historic photos featuring Iroquois paddlers, like in the the work of James Peachey.

Iroquois Decorated Paddles 

Closeup of Southeast view of Cataraqui (Kingston) on Lake Ontario
James Peachey
Library and Archives Canada

accession number 1989-221-5
August 1785

Original post link

Luckily I still had some of the Regal Red rust paint used to refurbish the 14' Chesnut canoe. It isn't a true match to the faded ochre red in the painting but it would do. The plan was to copy this dual tone motif along with some some black paint.

First, the 58" full-sized paddle was cut down into a miniature-sized 38". The blade was reshaped into a smaller beavertail design and the shaft re-cut and shaved down to a thinner 3/4" diameter. Like the ceremonial paddle, it has a simple pole style grip which will work for him since he knows nothing of correction strokes just yet.

Dual Tone mini paddle

Of course this paddle wasn't really meant for me and my historical obsession. So as a treat for my little guy, I did my best to paint his current hero, Spiderman, on the other side of the blade.

Friendly, Neighborhood Spiderman Paddle

There's still a discernible warp near the neck of the blade, but  hopefully this will be be some incentive to get him out in the canoe next season.  

c1820 Sassafras Schoolcraft Replica

Another replica I wanted to try and carve was a paddle described and illustrated by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft  (March 28, 1793–December 10, 1864), an American geographer and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures. The specific paddle with an interesting banded decoration appears alongside a sketch of a fur trade canoe in his 1821 publication Narrative journal of travels through the northwestern regions of the United States.  

Source Link

Page 69 of his text briefly describes the paddle:

"The Fur Companies have lately introduced the use of oars, in propelling the canoe but the natives employ the cedar paddle, with a light and slender blade. See fig. 14, plate 2. In either case, they are steered with a larger paddle, having a long handle, and a broad blade. See Fig. 2, plate 2."

Schoolcraft's steering paddle

Fig. 2

Unfortunately any meaning or significance of the  unusual banded decorative pattern was not recorded by the author. However based on the larger size and more robust construction, it is consistent with a steering paddle rather than the slender cedar paddle meant for propulsion.

Since all of my paddle replicas are meant to be functional users, this one was also proportionally adjusted to 58 inches. The result is a pretty robust blade shape with a gradually thinning shaft ending in an oval shaped bobble grip. I also cut this out of my remaining board of sassafras. Here the blade section has been more or less finished but work was still needed on the shaft and grip.

The zig zag burning was straight forward enough. At one point, I though of preparing some sort of mask and just burning it fully with the propane torch. But in the end, I just used a large shading spoon nib on the pyrography pen. To add to the aged look, the edges of banding pattern were burned at full heat while the central sections were gradually shaded in. Below is the result after oiling...

c1820 Schoolcraft Replica in Sassafras

Here's a side by side comparison.

  

Son's New Paddle

Years ago, paddle maker Craig Johnson sent a gift of a short board of Sassafras along with the 3 boards I purchased from him. It was the perfect size to make a kid's paddle.

5/4 Sassafras Stock

Well I finally finished working on that new paddle for my 8 year old son. It's a 48" beavertail with a long skinny grip.

48" Sassafras Beavertail

For decoration, I was inspired by the sketch of a vine motif on an elongated grip documented in  La culture matérielle des indiens de Weymontachie by Norman Clermont (see that post HERE).

La culture matérielle des indiens de Weymontachie 

Norman Clermont (‎1982)

My boy approved of the grip decoration but also wanted a large letter K for his initial on the blade. This worked out well because by the time he outgrows this paddle as a user, it should fit little brother well and they have the same initial. Also added some other floral decorations on the upper blade.

Decorated Side

I rushed a bit to get this done in time for an upcoming 2 night canoe trip over the May long weeknd. The father of a classmate saw our trip report from last summer and invited us along for their family adventure. Another party is joining us too so we'll have a total of 3 dads and 5 kids.  A no portage base-camp experience has been planned so we'll be bringing along some extra weight including the wanigan, bucksaw chair, homemade pack, chess-set and the bushcraft toys made over the winter.

Camping & Bushcraft Toys

Paddling Chess-set

Given how we're playing it safe and camping close to the put-in, I'm planning on bringing the repaired Sassafras Tripper for a trial on the lake. We'll see if the repair holds up or if the paddle will be relegated to a garden ornament again.

Fixing an old failure - scarfing a grip onto a sassafras northwoods - Part 3

Here's the end story with the scarfed sassafras paddle. The previous post on this paddle  mentioned that the blade had weathered after being exposed untreated for years in the backyard garden. One side had turned into to a light brown colour while the more exposed face oxidized into a greyish black patina. 

Different sides of the weathered blade

After carving down the shoulder and throat and shaving off the weathered top layer, the now golden hue of the sassafras came out with no signs of wear. Between the blade weathering, the darkened sassafras and the light creamy new sassafras grip, the paddle now had 3 distinct colour tones. Briefly considered scraping off the oxidized layer and staining the light wood to match the rest of the paddle, but some online feedback suggested to leave it alone. The old wood and new wood obviously contrast but it'll be a reminder of how this paddle pretty much came back from the grave. 

However, for practical purposes I decided to add a leather wrap around the shaft using 1/2" wide, 60 inch long saddle string leather collecting dust in the leather supply box.

1/2" x 60"  Saddle String

I've already described my method of attachment in this previous post  from 2009 so didn't take any new photos of the process. Many of the links in the post from back then are no longer active but my photos and description is the same. Trim  roughly 4" from the ends to a point, tack on the bottom, soak the leather in warm water and then stretch tightly around the shaft. Using a clamp to hold the bulk of the wrapping, the final bit is stretched out and the final tack is secured. After drying, the leather shrinks an securely grips the shaft. It is then waterproofed using Sno-Seal applied with a heat gut and brush. So far this method hasn't failed me but it does rely on the waterproofing treatment to prevent the the leather from soaking through and likely getting loose again. So once a season, I apply more Sno-Seal to the other wrapped paddles and they are good to go.

Closeup of wrap. Pins not visible but are on the other side...

So here it is...a resurrected paddle. It'll have to wait a few more weeks until it gets dipped in the water.

Paddle Complete

Logan Museum c1900 Odawa Replica

My next paddle replica was based on a circa 1900 Odawa paddle in the Logan Museum of Anthropology.



Odawa Canoe Paddle
c.1900
Maple
Length: 136.5cm Blade width: 10cm
Source: The Art of the Great Lakes Indians.
Flint, Mich.: Flint Institute of Arts, 1973. p. 98

The original paddle was relatively short (approx 54") with a blade width of just under 4". It has some simple etchings on the upper portion of the blade along with a small grip that features a triangular cutout and slightly worn decorative point on the top.

For my version in sassafras, I adjusted the proportions to make a functional paddle at my preferred length of 58". Also made the grip a tiny bit larger to fit my bulky hands and slightly exaggerated the decorative pointed tip. Below is the photo of when the carving stage was finished back in the early fall.

Here's the paddle prior to the final sanding along with a closeup of the grip. At this stage the tiny triangular cutout on the grip face was not cut out.
 .

The Logan Museum now has updated their online collections catalog to feature colour photos of the paddle along with a useful zoom feature to see the etchings at a higher resolution. Turns out the etchings feature triple lines with the outer cuts containing traces of red paint. The pattern contains a slightly different mix of diamond, heart and other abstract motifs on each side of the blade.

The detailed color versions on the Museum's online collection page shows that the area below the etchings has also been darkened with some sort of greyish surface paint. Painting just isn't my thing so I decided to try another full propane torch burn while leaving the area of the etchings untouched to take advantage of the muted golden hue of sassafras.

On a mild winters day, I took the paddle outside and carefully charred the surface...

Fortunately, this paddle didn't warp like the failed Sassafras Cree paddle back in the summer. For the central untouched areas, I added some mild shading to make the pyrography patterns stand out a bit. Here is the final result after oiling...

c1900  Logan Museum  Odawa Replica

Fixing an old failure - scarfing a grip onto a sassafras northwoods - Part 2

When working on the old busted sassafras tripper, a scarf repair was attempted on the shaft so that the paddle could be salvaged into a user again. 

A joint  was cut and a sassafras cutoff was successfully glued up.

A new centre line was drawn on the upper portion and a squarish grip similar to a design at the Maine Hudson Museum was sketched out. After cutting out the profile, the grip was worked on vigorously with a crooked knife and rasp to get the desired  "grip bumps" and angled edges.

The new grip

The blade had weathered after being exposed untreated to the elements for years. It had been positioned upside down in the garden along the east fence line. The back of the blade facing the yard hard had weathered to a light brown colour while the more exposed face weathered into a greyish black patina. 

Different sides of the weathered blade

After the successful glue repair, the shoulder and shaft area of the original blade revealed that the underlying sassafras has turned its golden brown. Between the blade weathering, the darkened sassafras and the light creamy new sassafras grip, the paddle now has 3 distinct colour tones. Not sure at this stage if I'll leave the paddle as is or attempt to lightly stain the new sassafras to at least darken it a bit. 

March 25, 2017 Update: Paddle shaft has been wrapped with leather and is now complete. See the final post HERE.

Fixing an old failure - scarfing a grip onto a sassafras northwoods - Part 1

Here's an update on an old paddle failure. Back in 2012, I was working on my first sassafras paddle made from a thick 8/4 board, the only size I could source at the time. The inspiration for the paddle was a specimen in the Hudson Museum in Maine featuring a graceful, segmented grip

Hudson Museum Paddles

(Photo Credit: Bob Holtzman)
http://indigenousboats.blogspot.com

My blank had been crudely cut out with a wonky bandsaw, but the bulk of the work was going to be removing the stock with an axe and crooked knife.

The segmented grip was being worked down with a crooked knife and rasp...

Everything was going well when I had the urge to check the flex. The thinned out lower grip snapped at the base!

I was quite disappointed at this point and didn't want the paddle remnants to go to waste, so in the end both pieces were kept in the hopes of re-purposing them somehow. The grip was stored inside since it felt quite comfortable and I wanted to keep it as a future template. After mulling around for ideas to re-use the blade, it was, in the end, just relegated to a garden ornament...a kind of  paddle tombstone for a failed project.

However, earlier this summer there was an informative post on paddle repairs over on CanoeTripping.net. CanotRouge (aka David G) uploaded a series of photos of a repair on his wife's favourite paddle. It had also snapped at the base of the grip and he set about repairing it with a scarf joint in a professional manner. It has apparently held up well so this was very encouraging in my own case.

Anyway, the paddle blade was yanked out of the garden where it has weathered into a antique grey patina but came out without any sign of rot. The grip was pulled out of indoor storage and the two setup on the garden shed to represent what could've been...

With a scrap piece of sassafras cut from more recent projects, a plan was hatched to try a scarf repair like David's.

Using a mitre saw, I cut the steepest angle I could manage. Here is a shot of the scarf joint clamped up...

The glue-up went well and it seems to be very strong. A new grip will be sketched out and reshaped soon.

DECEMBER 2016 Update: New grip has been shaped out. See post # 2 in series HERE.

Sassafras Tripper = latest paddle in gallery

Managed to take a final "finished" photo of the recently completed Sassafras Tripper after coating it with a few coats of oil.  It's also been added to the Gallery on the Paddle Image Archive Page.

Paddle Fail: Warped shaft on Sassafras Paddle

Hoping that folks reading will learn from my mistakes, I've posted a few failures over the years in this paddle making journey. One such example was my doomed attempt at carving a paddle from a piece of downed cedar or the first sassafras tripper that snapped after aggressively testing the flex.

Well, here's another learning experience to share. After completing a sassafras version of the recurved cree blade,  I had decided on doing a negative burn of the simple original decoration of bars and circles. In order to visualize the result, an image of the paddle was tinkered on with photoshop.

 

Visualizing the burning pattern

The plan was to do a full on burn with a propane torch on both sides of the paddle with a few spots left bare in order to complete the fine details with pyrography pen. After testing and doing a single side burn on a new Sassafras Tripper this seemed like it would be without problems.

Unfortunately while burning through the shaft area on this paddle, it began to warp ridiculously so now there is a pronounced bend, both curving laterally and back to front as evident from the pics below.

Severe warp of shaft to the right

Shaft bent back from blade

Guess without planning it, I created my very first "bent-shaft" canoe paddle.

Luke McNair had sent a warning about the risk of warping if heat was applied unevenly. Did my best to consciously avoid this, but the results here are pretty dramatic. I suspect the fact that the shaft was carved down to 1" and the blade thinned down more than usual for some flex contributed to the warping. The lumber stock was also flat-sawn instead of being quarter sawn.

Either way, all is not lost. I plan to practice some etching on the burned blade and will figure out some other usage for this failure so the wood (and my efforts) aren't wasted.

Replicating a previous design - Sassafras Recurved Cree blade

Been working on replicating another tested blade design from earlier in the blog. Back in 2010, I came across the paddle blank at an antique sale. It looked to be a project intended for a kid that was never completed. The blank had a blade heavy design with a thinner 1" shaft thickness so using a crooked knife, it was reworked into a recurved Cree design in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  The full post can be read here.

The partially complete Birch blank with pear grip

Cree Paddle - Canadian Museum of Civilization

Chipping out the outline; Cleaned up with the crooked knife

Completed Paddle

Despite the thin shaft and slightly shorter length, I've been quite happy with the performance with the design and is one of my go-to paddles for casual use. Thought I would replicate the blade with another board of Sassafras but add on an elongated grip for more comfort and balance. Here's a shot of the nearly completed blank.

Not sure about the decoration yet, but I'm thinking of doing another surface burn with the propane torch.