RE: [Paddlewise] Greenland Paddles Revi

 -----Original Message-----
From: Nick Schade [mailto:schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 1:12 PM
To: paddlewise
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Greenland Paddles Revi


At 9:38 AM -0500 8/5/98, Chuck Holst wrote:
<snip>
>On Friday I tried my new Greenland paddle for the first time.
>I had made it as close as possible to the native design, even
>to the extent of pegging "bone" tips made of white UHMW
>polyethylene onto the ends.
<snip>

What do you mean by "_the_ native design" emphasis on "the"? Is there   only
one native design?



Nick Schade
Guillemot Kayaks
c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222
(603) 744-6872

Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/

>>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<<


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I meant the native design I copied it from. ;-) More accurately, the
Greenland paddle style documented by John Heath in Sea Kayaker about 11
years ago.

In Greenland there appears to be two basic styles aside from the storm
paddle. With both styles the blade is no wider than the paddler can grasp   
near the tip, and the blade tapers to a width at the root that is about
half the maximum width. Both styles typically have a rounded bone or   ivory
tip pegged to the end. This bone tip can be the same width as the blade,   it
can be wider, or it can be nonexistent (i.e., all wood). In most of the
historical photos I have seen it is wider.

The main difference between the two styles is that one has partial or no
bone edges on the blade, and the blade tapers to a distinct shoulder   where
it meets the loom. This shoulder is carved into the wood, and might be a
more modern style. The other style has a shoulderless wood core and bone
edges that run the full length of the blade, so that the ends of the bone   
strips form the shoulder. Both styles have a distinct break where the   blade
joins the loom, unlike some modern paddles that claim to be Greenland   style.

(Five years ago I attended a talk by John Heath in which someone handed
him a paddle that did not have shoulders. Heath did not recognize it as
a Greenland paddle -- he wasn't sure what it was -- "Aleut?" he guessed.
The person who handed him the paddle still makes paddles in that style
and sells them as Greenland paddles.)

There were some minor variations in the Greenland style. Loom length and
width appears to have been largely a matter of personal preference,
though the length of the loom does not appear to have exceeded a third
of the overall length of the paddle. Usually it was much less.

Also, in some parts of Greenland the blade had and still has a diamond
shape in section; in others it was and is more rounded.

Many paddlers and paddle makers think that any paddle with long, narrow
blades is a Greenland paddle. That is not true. The distinctive
characteristic of the Greenland paddle is that it is made to be used
with the sliding stroke; thus there are no carved drip rings or other
protuberances to get in the way, and the blade cannot be wider than can
be grasped anywhere along its length. In other parts of the Arctic there
were narrow, long-bladed paddles that did have these protuberances, or in   
which the blades had almost parallel sides and larger shoulders, but I do   
not consider these to be Greenland paddles because they could not be used   
with the sliding stroke (aside from the fact that they were made and used   
outside Greenland).

I once saw a post in which the writer bragged of having made a Greenland
paddle with six-inch wide blades. That ain't no Greenland paddle, unless
the writer had enormous hands! When we talk about Greenland paddles,
let's make sure we are talking about the same thing.

Chuck Holst  
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