Up a creek with your own handmade paddle. Beaver Tooth ran a paddle making course for the Ulster Canoe Club. The team of 3 arrived on Saturday morning full of expectation, doubt, fear and hands ready to work. The course explored design, timber choice and the types of grain cut. The candidates picked their desired design from a list of 5, calculated it unto template card and after picking their wood, transferred the design to their wood. By the end of Saturday they had paddles of sorts. Sunday started with a mission, plus some of my wife's home baked lemon drizzle cake, and by late lunch time, 3 beautiful ash bespoke paddles appeared; one Algonquin and two Beavertail. To personalise then some individual pyrography design work was added. Three happy, tired paddlers went home with their completely finished paddle with just the oiling process to do at home; which take several days.
