> I spent some more time this past weekend working on a Greenland paddle
> (building to Chuck Holst's plans). I didn't get as far as being able to
> use my light glass on the blades (I forgot to multiple my building-time
> estimate by 3). But, I did get as far as rough shaping. Still need to work
> on rounding the blade edges, it's close to it's final shape. I decided to
> pop it onto the scale (a food scale works well) 'cause it felt on the
> heavy side. It came in at 3 lbs; ouch! It will be like paddling with a
> barbell.

Ross,

A solid cedar or spruce Greenland paddle should weigh well under two pounds. I could be wrong but I don't see how you are going to remove a full pound or more from your almost finished blank. You might want to consider finishing the paddle as-is to gain experience and to create a beautiful artifact and then mount it on your wall.

I know this from experience as my first paddle graces my living room wall too. It is a hefer and paddling it on one trip was more than enough. It was made from a particularly dense blank of douglas fir and I could have drilled it full of enough holes to look like swiss cheese and it would still have been too heavy for enjoyable paddling.

I started making solid cedar paddles after trying a friend's nice homemade paddle several years ago and have no desire to laminate or glass any future Greenland sticks. I regularly check the cedar selection at the local home despot and lumberyard and over time have found enough inexpensive clear vertical grain boards (2 X 4's, 2 X 6's, 4 X 4's) to ensure a more than adequate supply of future paddles.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

Greg Stamer