I generally discourage using Greenland paddles with pack canoes because they tend to get a bit heavy at the lengths which work well in a canoe and the drips down the blades tend to give your lap a veritable soaking. Weirdly, however, I do get people who build them for this purpose and are...
"Greenland paddles and pack canoes"Continue readingCategory: Paddles and oars
Celebrating 20 years of building skin boats: new Greenland Paddle Building Course release!
To celebrate our 20 year anniversary of building skin on frame boats, we just released a brand new FREE Greenland Paddle Building Course. This massive upgrade to both the course and the plan set replaces our older versions of both. You can watch the entire thing on YouTube, or on our website without commercials....
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Video: Greenland paddle handgrip and shoulder shaping
For the last couple months, we’ve been updating our FREE Greenland paddle building video series. Should be ready for release in a few days. Here’s a short clip from a video where I discuss my strategy for the handgrip and the shoulder. ___This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.See the original post...
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An afternoon comparing paddle shapes
We just finished filming the new FREE Greenland paddle building course, during which I built three very similar paddles to see if I could feel the difference between them. I also have a Gearlab Kalleq (very nice paddle) and a fully dihedral shaped wooden paddle for comparison. I was surprised by how much difference...
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Friday morning sidewalk score!
Friday morning sidewalk score! Clear cedar offcuts from a fence project. I can easily combine these with a clear strip off the edge of a construction grade 2×4 to make a lovely Greenland paddle at the cost of 6 hrs of labor and $2 of glue. (the last photos show a similar paddle which...
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Re-shooting the Free Greenland paddle building course
I decided to spend this month re-shooting my entire FREE Greenland paddle building course, but as usual, the project has snowballed a bit. Here’s a couple minutes from the introduction video where I talk GP paddling technique and how it compares to a euro blade stroke. The whole project includes 12 FREE videos, and...
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Video: Cleaning up a laminated Greenland paddle blank
Cleaning up a laminated Greenland paddle blank with my 1940 Parks Planer. Western red cedar with a Port Orford Cedar reinforcing strip and White ash edges. ___This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.See the original post and discussion here. Follow Cape Falcon Kayak on Instagram »...
Question for Greenland Paddle builders
Question for Greenland Paddle builders: Right now I’m re-shooting my entire free Greenland paddle building course to bring it up to the quality of the rest of our video courses, and also to add process updates and more info. Thinking about wood selection, generally I recommend the people not build out of any species...
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There are some truly incredible craftsman in the world and I am not one of them.
There are some truly incredible craftsman in the world and I am not one of them. My work is focused more on helping people build simple, efficient core skill sets that they can build on however they want to. I got this email this morning from Jukka who built this lovely Greenland paddle after...
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Updating the finishing instructions in our Free Greenland Paddle Building Course
We spent the morning shooting video updates to the finishing section for our Free Greenland Paddle Building Course. I went into a lot of detail about the pros and cons of various finish strategies including updated instructions for applying Rubio Monocoat, and also a more traditional burnishing technique using pure tung oil that was...
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Launching the Canoe Oar and Outrigger Course
We are excited to announce the Canoe Oar and Outrigger Building Class, available on our website for $25. Like all of our classes, this obsessively detailed 4 hour video course and 8 page plan set covers tool selection, materials, workspace setup, and step by step building instruction that helps you skip the learning curve...
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Liz tackles the oar build
I like to joke that Liz is the brains AND the muscle behind Cape Falcon Kayak. Beyond her miraculous ability turn my nearly illegible scribblings into professional looking boat plans, and make me look slightly less dumb on camera, she often steps up to do the hardest physical work that I can’t due to...
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Building a canoe paddle
Over the years I’ve made about 20 times as many boats as I have paddles because, with the exception of Greenland paddles, most commercial paddles are better made and less expensive than my time and skills can afford. Occasionally though with the liberal application of power tools and a few household objects I can...
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Video: Oar building, part 5
Finally finishing up the oars and shooting the oar and canoe outrigger building class. This was a really challenging build due to health issues that forced me to stop working for four days after carving a single oar blade, but also just because I added some major improvements to my system halfway through and...
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Video: Oar building, part 4
A basic theme to all of my paddle and oar building is to do all the work on any given work surface before un-clamping and moving on. This saves a surprising amount of time on changeovers. Another way to speed things up is to get organized and work methodically through the abrasives. Before I...
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