Craft your own wooden
paddles and canoes
LOTS OF COURSES TO TEACH A HISTORIC CRAFT
By Jenna Thompson
T
HERE’S SOMETHING special about
canoeing with a handcrafted paddle. Very
cool, very expensive looking, you might think.
But you don’t have to buy one from a master
woodworker. You can make your very own
with one of these craftsmen teaching you.
It’s a perfect activity while waiting for the
weather to warm up.
And you could graduate to making an
entire canoe or stand-up paddleboard.
The Ottawa City Workshop (https://
ottawacitywoodshop.com/) and My Urban
Workshop (http://www.myurbanworkshop.
com/) both offer paddle-making courses,
with sessions ranging from six to 16 hours.
Andy Convery of Echo Paddles, who
teaches at the Ottawa City Workshop, says
participants range from experienced
cabinetmakers to people who have never
picked up a hand plane. He covers basic
shapes and design, choice of wood for
strength and weight, and all the skills from
cutting and planing to jointing and
laminating. Results range from stand-up
paddleboard (SUP) paddles, and touring,
whitewater or flatwater canoe paddles.
Over at My Urban Workshop, participants
carve a solid cherry wood canoe paddle. Lee
Valley has offered paddle making courses in
the past – check its schedule for upcoming
offerings. The extra ambitious can learn to
make an entire canoe or paddleboard at
Algonquin College. Teams of six students work
together to build a 17-foot cedarstrip canoe.
Then there’s a raffle with the prize being an
opportunity to buy the finished product for
the cost of the materials; but everyone leaves
knowing how to make their own.
My Urban Workshop, founded by Greg Anderson, will run an eight-day canoe-making
course with a similar format this summer.
Since stand-up paddleboarding has become so
popular in recent years, he will offer a four-day
SUP-building course. Pairs of students construct SUPs using computer controlled cutting
technology, marine plywood and fibreglass.
Keep an eye on the websites as they tend
to offer these courses yearly and whenever
there is sufficient demand. You could end up
with a one-of-a-kind piece that’s guaranteed
to get attention on the water. Φ
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