Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board

Re: Paddle Weight

Posted By: Kent LeBoutillier
Date: Thursday, 18 January 2001, at 11:54 a.m.

In Response To: Paddle Weight (Rich Weise)

Hi Rich,
I have to say that I have never weighed the board before I started. There will most definetly be differences from one board to another of the same species. Moisture content, tight grain vice open grain, Heart wood vice sap wood all makes a difference in weight. I really only worry about the quality of the board not the weight. If your paddles are coming out around 2 lbs I wouldn't be concerned. My last paddle weighed in at 1.89 lbs and I think it feels to light. I went to a Dereck Hutchinson demo last year and he indicated he prefers a heavy paddle. I've never done any direct comparison of dark vice light wood but if I remember correctly the darker WRC tends to be sap wood which usually has a more open grain than heart wood which would make it lighter. I don't really think color makes much difference. If it's a good straight board with nice tight grain use it! I'm no expert on this and these questions might be better asked on the Building BBs:

Can anyone tell me if a 8' long 2"x4" made of Western Red Cedar
: (WRC) should weigh 8 lbs ? Is that about right ? I mean that when it's
: whittled it down into a Greenland Style Paddle will it be on the heavy or
: light side for it's size?
: The reason I ask is that I made two paddles of the same size from different
: pieces of WRC and one weighs 4 oz more than the other. I do not want to
: spend the time making this one and ending up with another heavy paddle.

: Also , does the color of WRC effect the weight ? Any Weigh, Rich

Messages In This Thread

Paddle Weight
Rich Weise -- Thursday, 18 January 2001, at 9:29 a.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Kent LeBoutillier -- Thursday, 18 January 2001, at 11:54 a.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Bert -- Thursday, 18 January 2001, at 12:23 p.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Craig Bumgarner -- Friday, 19 January 2001, at 8:02 a.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Kent LeBoutillier -- Friday, 19 January 2001, at 11:41 a.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Bert -- Friday, 19 January 2001, at 5:14 p.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Craig Bumgarner -- Saturday, 20 January 2001, at 1:58 p.m.

Re: Paddle Weight
Rich Weise -- Sunday, 21 January 2001, at 3:18 p.m.

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