Traditionalists would like to see Greenland paddles made as closely as possible to the sizes and shapes which have been used for centuries. Obviously people who use Euro paddles are not going to fit in the category of "traditionalist". If you are one of those who are willing to shuck the label, then you've opened doors to all kinds of possibilities.

Most instructions for making Greenland paddles seem to start you with a cedar 2x4. Depending on your lumber source you might get a blade which is 3.5 inches wide, or one which is 4 inches wide. These are much narrower than the blades on a Euro paddle. So compromise on tradition and start with a 2x6, or maybe rip a 2x10 in half and use what would be, I guess, a 2x5. Or go really big and whittle down a 2x8.

You can approach the paddle idea from the opposite direction too. Make spoon-shaped blades (ala Euro style) which are longer and narrower than the usual Euro blades, and mount these on a shorter shaft. Such a longer, narrower neo-Euro style paddle would have some of the advantages of a GP (such as less resistance and a faster, lighter cadence. But at the same time it would have some of the advantages of the Euro designs.

This country was founded on compromise. Take several ideas into the shop and blend them together to create something new. It is the American thing to do. Leave Greenland and European ideas behind you and emigrate to a new American paddle design, created by you in the tradition of E Pluribus Unum (That is Latin for: out of many screwy ideas, one is going to be a bit less screwy)

Remember that one of the joys of building your own is that you get to experiment with ideas that are not on the market. So be creative and try something wildly different.

Building paddles is relatively cheap. If you cut all the wood for 5 or 6 paddle shafts at one time, you can make an assortment of styles of blades and glue up different paddle styles at your leisure.

Enjoy your paddle building.

PGJ