: The next thing I see on almost everyone's first self carved GP is
: that they make the blade too thick. The thinner the thickness of
: the blade, the finer the entry.

That depends on how you define "thick". Leaving a blade fairly thick in the middle, but tapering smoothly to fine edges produces a sweet-feeling paddle that creates a lot of lift in the water. For example, when I taper my paddle blanks, I only reduce the tip thickness to 3/4". However, the finished paddle will have edges that are ~1/8" thick, with smoothly flowing lines from the center of the blades to the edges.

One common problem I've seen is that many paddle builders make their blades too thin and flat - often with distinct "step-down" from the shoulder to the blade, rather than a smooth taper - which makes them overly flexible and prone to breakage at mid-blade and at the step-down point.