Blackwood canoe paddles
My passion for canoeing has me making canoe paddles now in three distinct shapes. The long paddle for open water, the white water paddle for rapids and turbulent water, and the light paddle for all round easy touring. I’m using selected, quarter sawn, Australian blackwood to shape the three types of solid timber paddles, sanding them down to 320 grit and oiling them with the all round tung oil and beeswax thinned with gum turps.
Blackwood has long been used in the South East of Australia, originally to make shields and woomeras (spear throwers), recently cabinents, boats and now paddles. It is dense and strong, yet light enough to work and use in things like paddles. As the romance and charm of open boat canoeing catches on in Australia, I hope there will be increasing interest in these solid, local paddles.
They take me about 3-4 hours to make, after selecting the timber from a distributor a bit out of town. I’m not sure how much postage will end up costing, so I’m including it in the price while I find out. A starting price of Au$350 seems fair and comparable to other timber paddles on the market from offshore. As with all the things I make to sell, these paddles are made to order, and I’ll check in with the people who order one to determine sizing.
I really enjoy making these paddles, almost as much as I do using them! Check them out, let me know what you think.