After seeing Kurt Maurer's post and reading about building a "Birds Mouth" canoe paddle from his site, I decided that I just had to build one of these. So, a couple of weeks ago, I cut up some nice clear cedar to make the blade blanks and used some left over 3/16" strips to make the shaft.

The process Kurt describes is really quite easy to follow. I have not yet finished the paddles (yes, I made more than one) but am getting close. I build 3 adult paddles using the blade of my Bending Branches bent shaft as a guide. I also scaled the blade down to 80% to make a paddle for my 10 yr old son.

As of this morning, the blades are all attached to the shafts, the handle is attached to my son's paddle and I've cut the handle blanks for the rest of the paddles. Still to go is carving the rest of the handles, attaching them to the shafts, applying a coat of epoxy to the paddles and possibly a 4oz layer of glass on the blades (Kurt, do I need to apply glass to the blades?), sand lightly, polish with steel wool and apply some tung oil. I have not weighed them but can tell you that they are light. Holding all the parts for an adult paddle in one hand and my Bending Branches bent shaft (19oz) in the other, I can tell you that the "Bird's Mouth" paddle is lighter.

I'm planning to have my son's paddle and one for me ready for a 7 day canoe trip we are taking June 18-25 on the Oconee River in Georgia. I'll have other paddles as well but am hoping the "Bird's Mouth" paddles will see a lot of use.

Following are a few pics of the construction to date...

Bob Beaullieu