Make your own

This section of the Paddles Across Canada website is dedicated to giving as much information on making a paddle yourself as we can source. There are hundreds of ways to make a paddle and there is no ‘right way’. Any way that gets a finished paddle in your hands and gets you out on the water is the right way to make a paddle. Below you will find videos, links and articles on “how to make a paddle’. A canoe paddle, a coast Salish paddle, a Greenland style kayak paddle, a stand up paddle board paddle. Every type of paddle we can find.

We cover all different styles, woods, methods and types. Please check back often for more information, links and videos.

If you have any suggestions please share them with us and we will be sure to post them here for others to see.

Here are several videos on how to make a canoe paddle:

This one was done 10 years ago with my son at Lee Valley.

Great video of students at Laurentian University making paddles – Canoe paddles –  there are hundreds of varieties of dozens of types of wood and almost as many ways to make a paddle.

A short video with Kevin Callan at the Canadian Canoe Museum

And few more videos – these are not meant to show you exactly how to make a paddle rather to inspire you with all the different ways people do make paddles. From an axe to all power tools – there is something here for everyone.

And then there are kayak paddles – specifically Greenland style paddles: