Although it is very unlikely that Inuits ever used southern yellow pine, there is no reason you shouldn't. Any straight grained relatively light weight should work fine. You may be able to find fir decking, or spuce studs. Some woods will be stronger than others, but a greenland paddle does not need to be as strong as a wide bladed paddle because the forces tend to be more distributed. However, people quite commonly break them when rolling.

The grain orientation is not that important. Quartersawn is nicer to work with, but will not make that big a difference in the long run.

> Following the advice of several downloaded instructions for greenland
> paddle making, I have been trying to find some quarter-sawn fir or cedar.
> I have had a difficult time locating quarter sawn anything, except for
> some wildly expensive cherry. I have found some yellow pine 4X4's that
> could be cut into 2X4s in a quarter-sawn orientation. Would yellow pine be
> a disaster for a paddle material? How important is it too get quarter
> sawn? I am in Georgia BTW which may account for the abundance of yellow
> pine at Home Depot and elsewhere. I seem to recall more Douglass fir when
> I was up in Connecticutt.

> -Dave-