Alain Crozon's "Kiki Paddle"

Paddlemaking Blog reader Alain Crozon from France sent me a email documenting his homemade "KiKi" paddle. The many uses of its unique blade shape are illustrated by Alain's accompanying cartoon below. Very creative!


Alain's homemade paddle

Another Crooked Knife Project

Over the winter, I've been working on another smaller project...another attempt at a crooked knife from a file. My first attempt is still very functional, but prolonged use like in carving the bushcraft spruce paddle from the summer left my wrist quite sore. Many crooked knives I've seen have dramatically angled blades (nearly 45 degrees to the plane of the handle) and this seems to ease wrist strain while allowing for the skewing cut of the knife to delicately shave off wood. Below are some examples I had pulled from the net somewhere.


While back in Turkey visiting family in '09, I had stumbled across a perfect crook in an Olive Tree branch from my Great Uncle's abandoned property. It seemed to match my hand perfectly and even had an indent for the thumb-rest from a healed branch wound. The piece was cutoff and brought home and gradually shaped into a a leaner handle.


A broken branch crook; Fit my hand nicely


Shaping the handle
The blade was made from another old file (this time with an angle grinder and cutting disk) and after a little amateur blacksmithing, an offset tang was bent into shape. For this one, I decided not to bend the tip of the blade up as my intentions for this knife are for softwood shaving for paddle blades and cedar canoe ribs & sheathing.


The Blade
A slot was carved into the top of the handle to fit the tang. This was all trial and error until it sat nicely in the wood.


Tang slot carved
The handle was whipped tightly with waxed linen thread and everything is nice and secure. For the decoration, I wanted to leave as much of the handle bare as there were some nice grain patterns in the olive wood. Along the edges of the thumbrest, I burned a chip carved pattern.


Decoration Burned
Here is the completed knife all oiled up and ready to go...

Historic Illustration - Iroquois Elm Canoe and Paddles

League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois, the work of Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) has sketches of typical Iroquoian artifacts ranging from clothing to weapons to baskets. Volume III includes a write up on the elm bark canoes used by this tribe as well as an illustration.


Elm Bark Canoe
The image dates from 1849 and clearly illustrates the crimped bark of this type of craft, equipped with paddles for a crew of six. Some of the paddles have the decorations on them, simple cross hatched patterns with other carved figures, likely the personal marks of the owner. Here are some closeups.


Marked Paddles - Man with staff/club?


Horse Decoration?

Hazen Maliseet Paddles

Page 60 of Trading identities: the souvenir in Native North American art from the Northeast by Ruth B. Phillips (available partially online through Google Books) has some great pics of historic Maliseet carved paddles.

The black & white images show closeups of the blade decorations; the first paddle featuring a familiar double curved motif while the second a pictorial representation of a sporting camp scene.


Excerpt from her book...

2.7 a,b Two of four canoe paddles (details) commissioned by Frank Hazen from Maliseet carvers, c. 1880. Fig. 2.7a displays traditional double-curve motifs, while 2.7b displays an innovative pictorial vignette of a sporting camp scene, which would have been appreciated by touristic collectors but generally rejected by turn-of-the-century ethnological collectors.

I find the traditional curved etchings much more pleasing and remembered that I had seen this pattern before. A post from October 2009 featuring Rick Nash's gorgeous cherry Maliseet paddle seems to be a replica of this pattern.


Rick Nash paddle
Woodland Heirlooms

circa 1900 Adirondack Paddle

Thanks to the winter storm hitting my region today (which really isn't that bad in my opinion), my workplace has cancelled all classes...this means a SNOW DAY and a chance to post another paddle picture. This one is from February's "Current Items" page at the Cherry Gallery which features a nice looking Adirondack paddle.


Looks like it has already sold. The details from their site...

Adirondack Guide Boat Paddle
This guide boat paddle has a characteristic elaborately carved diamond-motif handle and a long, narrow blade. The front of the blade is painted with the four playing card suits - perhaps the guide was a gambler...
Circa 1900
5" w, 58.5” h

The carved motif area below the circular grip adds a nice decorative flair to whole piece. Here's another angled shot showing this interesting Adirondack feature.


Diamond Motif on grip