How to Build a Greenland Sea Kayak Paddle

The two photos above most clearly illustrate how a Greenland paddle channel jig works. If you examine the photos carefully, you'll note how the slope and angle of each bridge varies from flat to steep. Flat is the blade's tip, where Greenland paddles are typically flatter and thinner.

The steeper, more peaked slopes form the paddle's shoulder, and the shallow end of the blade and the shaft, where Greenland paddles are thicker and more rounded.

How the jig works works should seem pretty clear. The base of the router, bit spinning fast and cutting wood, follows the curves of the bridges. You simply slide the router up and down the slopes of the pairs of bridges, shaving off wood. You then remove the bridges, insert new ones, carve out the high spots, then repeats.

Both ends of the paddle and the shaft, can be carved in about half an hour using the channel jig and bridges. But obviously set up time (i.e., constructing the jig) is considerable. But once you've constructed the jig you have a fast, efficient way of carving many paddles. It's good way to make a lots of paddle quickly if you know what kind of paddle you like.

While carving paddles using Chuck Holst's method is slower, it does allow the option of carving a differently-shaped custom paddle every time you head down into the woodshop.

About the writer: kayak fishing guide Adam Bolonsky writes about sea kayaking (ocean kayaking) and kayak fishing at Sea Kayaking Dot Net and NorthAmerican Kayak Fishing.