Most makers use ash and sassafrass for the shaft. sassy is really nice to work with. Make sure you have wood with little or no grain runout. Test your paddles well, I too paddle a lot of WW and the thought of a padle breaking in some rapids is not a good one......

AS far as plans the best place I know of is to go look at one or borrow one and copy it. there is a great book avaliable here: http://www.wcha.org/builders/moosehead/equipment.html this guy really knows his stuff, it is about canoepaddles but many things cross over. He does not say much about laminating but that is the easiest part.... Also here is another good link: http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/kayak/paddle / http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/PaddleLetter/paddle.html

Both of these guys really seem to know their stuff too.

> I would like to try my hand at making a whitewater kayak paddle as winter
> project. I paddle a plastic boat but have heard good things about wooden
> paddles. I do not have any plans or designs to work from. I am interested
> in information about where to get plans, layouts, designs, cut sheets or
> whatever I need to get started.

> Please e-mail any information to cctaylor3@yahoo.com . Thank you in
> advance for your help.

> Thinking spring

> Curt Taylor