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It's my third paddle, this time a Greenland-style kayak paddle. I've never used one before and wanted to try it. Figured it would more fun and much more cost-effective to make my own than to buy one.

I used plans from Cape Falcon Kayak. He does a great job with the videos and plans. I highly recommend him.

I found a unicorn at the big orange box: a completely knot free, straight grained, zero runout, nearly quarter sawn cedar 2×4. Whoa.

The blades were rough shaped with a jigsaw and then the rest was hand planed. My shoulders are tired. I can see why the pros use a powered hand plane.

Finish is Helmsman's Teak Oil from Ace Hardware. I even had a coupon!

Total cost was $16 for the board, $10 for a can of finish (only used about half a cup), a couple quarter sheets of sandpaper, and about 5 hours.

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Love the closeup of the grain. I'm guessing this is one of those that pictures don't do justice to the real piece.
 

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Fantastic! I need to build one of these.
 

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Looks nice. I'm always a fan of building VS buying so it's always a treat to see it when others do it as well
 

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Good looking paddle that ought to do the job. Bet the paddle will make your shoulders sore again. It is nice work.
 

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@987Ron - Ha! That's supposed to be one of the big advantages of Greenland paddles. Less stress on the shoulders. We'll see.
 

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Oh my - great project and well timed. I have a colleague at work who has been asking me to build him one. For laugh, I made a mini one and wrapped it for him to find in his office mailbox!!

How difficult would you say this was? Sure looks great!
 

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@BB1 - Thanks! That's pretty funny.

It was maybe a 2 out of 10 on the difficultometer. Knots, runout, and tearout would have made it a lot harder. A nice bandsaw, a power hand planer, and a 3/4" roundover router bit would have made it a lot easier.
 

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My hand tool abilities are about a 1 out of 10 (with 10 being the good end of the scale). I'll have to look at some videos and check the resource you linked (thanks for that).
 

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Looks like you did great.
 

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That is agoos looking paddle, well done. After cutting to shape, did you plane the rest down? If so I can understand the sore shoulders.
 

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Started to listen to the free video series from Cape Falcon Kayak. I think the plans are $12. Did you find them as descriptive as indicated? Thinking if I do try one, plans would be helpful as I'll need some good level of detail to pull this off.
 

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@Eric - Yes. I planed it down by hand, from 1.5" to 1/8" at the tip.

@BB1 - Yes, the plans are worth it for the cross sections.
 

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Corec, that is some work, and well done. That paddle is going to be strong. I think there might be a plan in Nick Shades book on kayaks.
 
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