Making A King Island Paddle

This weekend I carved a King Island paddle replica using the offsets published on David Zimmerly's site, Arctic Kayaks.  The wood is Western Red Cedar, a clear green 2 x 8 I found at Home Depot for a $11.  After rough shaping with a jigsaw and block plane, I used my Kestrel crooked knife and a thumb plane for the final shaping, then sanded it down with 80 grit followed by 120 grit. I took it out in the kayak to get it wet (to raise the grain prior to final sanding) and see how it performs. Forward motion is not as efficient as a double-bladed paddle. It's easy to roll with, but I still haven't figured out the elusive King Island Roll. I have never met anyone who knows how to do it either so I wouldn't know if I was doing it right anyway (Illustration of the King Island roll from Derek Hutchinson's The Complete Book of Sea Kayaking)

Comments

[Rick]

Wow, nice work. How cool to be able to say something like "this weekend I carved a King Island paddle" instead of, or in addition to, "this weekend I burned a DVD." Or is it just me who's starting to forget that it's possible make things without using a computer?

Indirectly kayak related:
POLAR WARNING - A WARMING WORLD: THE DIFFERENCE A DEGREE MAKES
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/MNG3FGMHML1.DTL

[Scott Brown]

Nice paddle. I have a King Island that Chris Raab did for me in addition to a Hooper. I have been able to execute about 10 of the Greenland Rolls with it to include my version of the KI Roll, which starts with you supine on the back deck and then sweeping forward to recover. I have yet to get the answer on Hutchinson's drawing and how the paddle moves in the water.

Enjoy your site!
Scott