I have just finished making six paddles so I have a few ideas on this. I built one out of a 2x4 and it came out just fine. Every piece of wood can be resawn to quarter sawn, more or less. Get a good 2x4 that is construction grade and check the grain orientation and just resaw for quarter sawn. I did not consider quarter sawn for my paddles and they all seem to be fine. I laminated the shafts and planed to the desired shape. The blades were laminated with oak, poplar, walnut redwood and redwood. I used redwood for the middle laminate on the handles. I glassed one blade for extra strength. I have sources for doug fir here so I had the coice. Don't worry about the strength, the appearance of pine with other woods will be fine. Keep your plane sharp and have fun. Brian>