I also prefer the drawknife for roughing out a paddle. I use Western Red cedar 2x4's from Home Depot ($5.89). I have to look through a whole stack to find one good one. Sometimes they don't have a good one, so when I find one I buy it for future use.

Greg, I had one paddle blade start to split on the end with the grain running the way you described. I know this would make the strongest loom but the blades seem to be better with the grain running the other way. Maybe I am making my blades too thin. I work them down to about three quarters of an inch at the tip, to help with flutter. Did I just have a bad piece of wood?

As far as finishes go. I can wear the finish off of anything using it as a push pole on the flats :-)) I like Tung Oil. When it wears off I just put a little more on the tips.

Ron Weatherman Umatilla, Florida

: I was surprised when I walked into the kayak shop in Nuuk where traditional
: kayaks are built and my first image was of a Greenlander using an electric
: plane to quickly dimension a solid spruce paddle. He spoke English and I
: jokingly asked "where's the crooked knife and adze?". He laughed
: and said he had a stack of paddles to make for children and wanted the
: quickest method possible.

: I can only handle so much noise and sacriledge, so my favorite tool for
: roughing out paddles is a draw knife, and it works quite fast once you
: become skilled, as you can split out huge chunks of wood or shave like a
: plane. I'm sure the power planer would be quicker to learn and work faster
: though. Like Jay's comments for the power planer, a drawknife can ruin the
: work very fast if not careful.

: Greg Staemr