Whitewater with Battenkill Grip: Part 1

Many thanks to Graham Warren for directing me to the April 1997 issue of Wooden Canoe Journal where an article by Barry Beals describes an interesting asymmetrical grip. Co-developed by Beals and Jim Walker of Battenkill Canoe Ltd, the unique grip is a fusion of two popular styles, the standard pear and T-grip. In theory, the flattened portion of the half pear cradles the palm more comfortably and the half-T portion allows the thumb to curl around into a more natural position while still providing a positive hold on the paddle. Below is a blurry shot (apologies) of this grip design sketched out in pencil on a piece of maple stock.


Battenkill Grip
Despite the fact that I don't do much extreme white water paddling, I've been wanting to make a functional whitewater paddle for when I encounter some basic rapids on river runs. I envisioned this grip really shining in whitewater conditions and so decided to make another whitewater paddle using Graham Warren's blade design.

I had another piece of birdseye maple stock from which the Sparrow Solo had been made carved back in '08 and this would make the bulk of paddle. Since the edges had been planed square at the mill, some waste pieces of black walnut were easily laminated for the edges.


Laminating walnut edging
A slip of the sawing at the throat of the paddle left a major flaw in symmetry but I'm hoping to correct this by reshaping this area when it has been thinned out more. Below is a shot of the blank so far...


Whitewater paddle awaiting work
If anyone has made a Battenkill grip or come across paddles with this grip design, feel free to post a comment or send me some pics for posting.

Arctic Whitewater Paddle

Even though I haven't really paddle any significant white water (easy Class II at most), I wanted to try the White Water paddle design in Graham Warren's book. The write-up mentioned that it should be made from a stronger hardwood and left a bit thicker in order to prevent a breakage when in use. I decided that this would be a great time to try out some Soft Maple (actually quite hard) for this attempt. I ended up with a great 5/4 piece (10 ft long x 8.5 inches wide) that I had Century Mill plane down to 1 1/8th and cut into two 60inch long boards. One of these would be the whitewater and the other is still in locker room waiting for a paddle selection.

Unfortunately, I ended up not taking any photos of the process, including the technique for carving out the angled T-grip...something I regret. But I do have pics of the final work. The artwork was inspired by my 2007 Summer trip to the High Arctic (800+ km north of the Arctic Circle). A soft eco-adventure stay at Arctic Watch Lodge included some amazing vistas, 30 polar bear sightings, a local muskox herd, and amazing birdwatching. While on a daytrip rafting down the Cunningham River back to camp, our 13yr old inuit guide spotted a lone bull muskox. We pulled ashore and stared at it for quite a while before it snorted and slowly hunkered back over the tundra. These become my inspirations for the artwork


With the completed paddle back in August


The Muskox side of the blade


The other side


The Polar Bear side of the blade
Overall, I found the maple a bit of challenge to work with, but I later found out it was because I had dulled the spokeshave blade after making 4 hardwood paddles with it...so a sharpening stone and honing guide were necessary purchases at this point to keep this hobby going. Maple is also a very dense wood, resulting in a heavier than normal paddle I would want for a whitewater run. I'm already considering making another in the future from lighter woods and laminating hardwood edging.