Blanchard's Adirdonack Auction Paddles

Blanchards Auction Service is hosting its Annual Adirondack Auction on August 12th, 2016. Some of the items include canoe related items.

• Lot 0144 is an 8 foot, wood-canvas Salesman Sample from Old Town Canoe. It comes with a pair of 32" cherry paddles:

 LOT 0144 -  8 foot Old Town    Salesman Sample  

• Lot 0428 is a 63 1/4" Shaw and Tenney paddle in Cherry:

LOT 0428 - Shaw and Tenney Cherry Paddle

• Lot 0426 features two Canadian Paddle - an old Kettlewell Paddle and an R. Chestnut & Sons:

LOT 0426 - Kettlewell and R. Chestnut & Sons

• Lot 0421 is a pair of 5' Birdseye Maple paddles from an unknown maker:

LOT 0421 -  Birdseye Maple Paddles

• Lot 0382 has the most interesting paddle to me. The unknown origin paddle on the left with the slender grip. Unfortunately no dimensional info is provided. The lot is described as "2 Native American Canoe Paddles...one with Indian Decal"

LOT 0382

Closeup of Decal and tip decoration

Difficult to make out, but the decal looks to be another modified image of Southern Cheyenne chief, Wolf Robe (b. 1838-1841, d. 1910, Oklahoma). Frank Reinhart's original photo showcasing the Chief has been used before on paddles in a misplaced attempt to add authenticity to "Native American paddles". You can see another example of this with the Eldred's Auctions Folk Art Paddle from back in 2015.

Circa 1890 Penobscot Paddle

The August 2016 current selections page of the CherryGallery.com features a wonderfully preserved birch paddle in a traditional Penobscot form...

Stepped-Handle Canoe Paddle
This birch paddle with a beaver tail blade and a long, multi-step handle is a traditional form that was made by Penobscot Indians. There is a slight twist in the shaft and a nick in the blade, but is in good condition for wall display.
Circa 1890
6.5" w, 64.25" h

For comparison purposes, check out this similar circa 1900 Penobscot paddle made from maple as well as all the other previous posts on the blog labelled "Penobscot".

Chestnut / Peterborough Refurbish Part 2

Now that the exterior of the 14ft Chestnut / Peterborough was finished (Part 1 Link), it was time to start the superficial work on the woodwork. Didn't want to strip the interior since the aged patina looked pretty solid. After a simple sanding to roughen the surface, another coat of spar varnish was put on just to freshen the surface.

The original ash seats had long since lost their cane, so the previous owner simply used prewoven can and roughly jammed the edges through the existing seat holes. These have dried into place and are pretty solid. Obvious though that that last used wasn't a kneeler, because these rough cane ends would scratch and annoy the back of the legs.

Condition of the existing prewoven seat repair

Ending up using garden snips and a crooked knife to cut the cane ends as close as possible to the bottom of the seat. A basic sanding and things smoothed out sufficiently to not snag during kneeling. The seat cane is still firmly in place.

Trimming the cane flush with the bottom

At some point the seats had been taken out and put back with 3/16 Robertson machine screws. The original steel carriage bolts probably had rusted beyond usage.

Machine screws installed by previous owner

Ended up getting some brass bolts, but my source only had 6" in stock despite mentioning 4" ones being listed in stock on their site. A little extra work but they were cut down using a hacksaw and installed.

Cutting 3/16th Brass Bolts

Installing last one into place

The glue on the outwale scarf joints has failed over time. These were simply epoxied back together with some additional wood filler used to fill out the chips and gaps.

Scarfed outwale separation and minor damage

Simple repair

When the canoe gets new canvas in a few years, the outwales with their rusted screws will be completely removed. I might replace them and go with a lighter weight wood in the future. But for now this one is ready for the water.

All done!

More Woods Packs to restore

A few weeks back, happened to get a an email from a blog reader Mike E who informed me of a local paddling legend selling off most of his tripping gear. Amongst the lot were loads of Woods canvas canoe packs that had accompanied Michael Peake and members of the Hideaway Canoe Club. Some of their journeys were sponsored by Woods Canada in the 80s & 90s and these humble canvas packs have been used on dream Northern River trips down the Thelon, the Head, the Coppermine among others.

Anyway, these well used and abused packs were being offered at very reasonable prices. Ended up picking up 3 to work on and restore much like the Woods 200 done many years ago.

The pack in best condition was a later era Woods 200 with darker olive canvas. Thinner material than older ones but still sturdy enough. It was missing its tump and had a large repairable tear by the one tump buckle anchor as well as a growing hole on the front. The leather components were dried out but salvageable

Another 200 pack had much more sturdy canvas but was missing a buckle in the front as well as compromised leather. Almost all the original rivets had failed and had been replaced with bolts and nuts. Figured these would be simple to remove in order to replace the leather and do a complete "makeover".

The last pack was a Woods 100 that had been sent back to Woods Canada for repairs (back when they would do this). Tiny pinholes in the canvas were sewn up and reinforced, a corner patch added to the bottom and all the leather components replaced. Of the three this one looks to be in best shape since it could be used right away and came with a tump strap.

Slowly going to start restoring these over the summer

Sassafras Paddle oiled & ready for first dip

The decorative burnings on a second Penobscot paddle replica were completed over the winter. Here's the pic from back when there was still some snow on the ground...

Since then the paddle has been patiently waiting to be oiled and finally used in the water. While working on painting the canoe, took the opportunity to get this thing oiled up. Sassafras has a muted golden colour to it when it is oiled. I like the tone with the darker pyrography.

Oiled up and drying

I'll likely be taking this one on its maiden trip when the 14' Chestnut / Peterborough is completed.