blunt family paddles

Build Your Own Paddle class

2012-01-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

Recently Zach Hubbard from Terlingua hung out at the shop and knocked out this 68" guide stick to use as a stand up canoe paddle on the Rio Grande.

He picked out the blade wood ( from the outside, ash, walnut, aspen, wenge with a korelian burl tip) and also promised me that Jim wouldn't get too mad if we plagiarised one of his blade shapes.

We also finished this warranty stick for Idaho raft guide Nate Minkler. As it turns out Western Red Cedar is too soft to hold up to a rafting season on the Arkansas river and so we made him a new stick out of Alaskan Yellow Cedar and added an extra layer of glass.

Colorado Delivery!

2011-08-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last week Genny and I drove out to Colorado to hand deliver a few paddles and a set of oars, and to paddle the Numbers section of the Arkansas River.

First up was Todd Toledo of the mens US Raft Race team and the newest member of the Blunt Family Paddles team! Todd is a long time river guide currently working for Timberline Tours out of Vail, CO. He and his team are gearing up for worlds which are to be held in Costa Rica.

Next up was a set of sticks for BV local John Clauson. Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Walnut, Maple, Ash and Korelian Birch Veneer made up these ten and a half footers.

Then it was off to New Mexico River Adventures to hand off this sweetie pie to Elias Griego. Elias plays a lead role at NMRA and is gearing up for a multi day river trip on the Zambezi!!!!

And lastly we checked in with CKS to drop off a new bentshaft kayak demo model. CKS and BFP have recently partnered up to make it much easier to get your hands on a Blunt Family Paddle! So drop by the next time you're in Buena Vista to have a look at the latest paddles that BFP has to offer and be sure to keep an eye out for BFP online at CKS!

Longboatin"

2011-07-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a new configuration for us here at BFP, a canoe paddle with a bent shaft, which has been crafted for Pittsburgh local Dan Piesik.

This paddle is basically a Yough Special rafting stick with a 14 degree bend at the throat. Building the form for this paddle was fairly straightforward, but tapering the corewood in the shaft through the blade was a bit of a trick.

This paddle has a decal and bladewood configuration that are both new to BFP.

The woods used in this paddle are Ash plates for the shaft with an Alaska Yellow Cedar core. Alaskan Yellow Cedar bladewood with Walnut pinstripes and Yellow Heart Bangstrips. It has Curly Sycamore tip plates, a Walnut tgrip, 14 layer dynel edges and a marine grade finish that is extra tough and won't fade, which will keep this paddle bright and crisp for years to come.

Super Whippy Bent Shaft

2011-04-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

I've heard it said that alot of inventions happen by accident. This was indeed the case when it came to the latest paddle that I am shaping for local paddler Willie "the crusher" Illingworth.

Sort of by accident I shaped this 200cm paddle into one of the lightest, whippiest paddles to ever come out of the BFP factory. Weighing in at 35ish ounces before fiberglass, whippier that an AT Flexi and extremely strong (just ask Chris Baer's nose) this paddle will no doubt change the way that I craft paddles from here on out.

2010-12-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

Oars

2010-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

We have busy in the shop making oars!

Blunt Family Oars, the career river guides tool of choice.

Captain Nemo

2010-04-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a Guidestick built for Big Jim Nemith out of Ohio. He asked for a stout paddle and contrast of color in the blade. I refer to this blade design as the beavertail but its origin comes from master paddlemaker Keith Backlund. He designed this blade shape for the Youghigeny River and thus named it the YS or Yough Special. Although this YS is full size, I normally chop an inch off of this blade make it more user friendly.

Big Jim asked for a paddle that, when pried, would move the mountains to river left a few inches closer!

Northwest Creek Comp.

2010-04-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came by the Blunt Family Paddles tent this weekend.

Enjoying the excitement of the 5 second countdown before my race run.

Luke running the center line at Sunset Falls 100 feet below the starting line.

The whole weekend was a total blast for racing and spectating, ending with a "Thrilling" dance party.

Huge thanks go out to Luke and Next Adventure for hosting this highly enjoyable weekend!

Blunt Family Tent Debut

2010-03-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

The debut of the Blunt Family Paddles tent was a huge success at the Wind River race in Stabler, WA.

Festival attendees were able to check out the Blunt Family wares, enjoy a warm cup of coffee and huddle under the tent to get out of the rain.

Long boat class runner up Ryan Young gearing up!

Checking out the goods!

Special thanks go out to Tim Brink for founding my favorite whitewater festival, Luke Spencer for making the Blunt Family tent possible at virtually the last minute, and the beautiful and challenging Wind River for taking us all on a great adventure!

FIRE IT UP!!!

2010-02-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here are two kayak paddles that were recently sent down to Pucon, Chile to Chris Baer.

The shafts of both paddles are laminated bamboo providing a light weight yet extremely durable paddle that delivers a lot of stored energy and is easy on your joints.

These paddles were made with stout blades, thick blade wood along with a double layer of glass, resulting in a model I refer to as "Baer Proof"

The first paddle has Yellow Cedar blades with Purple Heart pinstripes and Maple edges and is capped with Curley English Sycamore tips.

The second paddle again has the Yellow Cedar bladewood and Maple edges but has Walnut pinstripes and Karelean Burl tips.

Motivational writing on the shaft for when you're about to FIRE IT UP!!!

"50 strokes into "FIRE IT UPS" life and it goes off a 40 footer, that paddle is going to see some shit. Thank you soo much." - Chris Baer

Whitewater dory oars

2010-02-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a set of oars that were custom built for local Montesano fishing enthusiast

Ben "the Rod"Rosenbach.

The lumber involved in these tools is Walnut handles, Ash/Spruce
throats (for natural counterbalance)

and bookmatched Alaskan Yellow Cedar blades highlighted with mahogany veneer pinstripes.

The white edging is constructed of 14 layers of dynel and the tip is capped with Karelian Birch burl veneer. Rounding these sticks off is a black rope wrap (gangster wrap)

sealed on the end with black fillets.

"The Rod" doesn't mess around. Here he is testing his new blades on the East Fork of the Satsop on the Olympic Peninsula.

Karelian Burl

2010-02-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a paddle that is most like what I make on a regular basis. Its bent shaft is made from ash and spruce, with hand-carved indexing.

The bladewood is yellow cedar with walnut fairing strips and ash bang strips.

The tip is Karelian Birch burl, which is particularly nostalgic to me because it was my teacher, Keith Backlund's veneer of choice while I spent time with him.

Rounding out this blade is walnut veneer pinstripes on the edges stacked with 12 layers of dynel on the top and 14 on the bottom.

Another satisfied customer!!!

Oars

2009-02-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a set of oars that I finished last year. They are a set that goes with a stitch and glue drift boat that I have been working on for a couple of years.

The tip plates are contrasting, Dark on one side,

and light on the other.

. The handles are solid ash and the throats are spruce sandwiched between ash plates. Rounded out with ash and fir blades and dynel edges. These sticks are stiff, snappy and highly responsive.

sharp pencils

2008-05-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ive been working on a few bentshaft kayak paddles over the last few weeks. These are always a real challenge. Each step requires all of my focus and attention.

Instead of using a router to roundover the grips I use spokeshaves to make and ergonomic shape. My favorite tool in this photo is the electric pencil sharpener.

First Kayak Paddle

2008-04-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, so this is the first of only about 15 kayak paddles that I've made.
I chose a Jimmy Snyder blade shape due to its simplicity. At first glance one might take this for a "squirt" paddle, but Jim recommends this paddle for "huge water in a big boat". Jim is the man, check out his website @http://www.jimisnyder.com/

The shaft of this paddle is made with sitka spruce sandwiched between two ash plates(the standard). The blade wood is Western Red Cedar, the bang strips are made from Hickory and the paddle is rounded of with Birdseye Maple tip plates.

Rick O' Shea

2008-04-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is Ricks paddle. The shaft is the typical Ash plates with the not so typical for me sassafrass core. The blade-wood is made from two different cedars, Western Red and Alaskan Yellow, giving it a very contrasting look. The edges are curley maple and the tips are curley english sycamore. The T-grip was carved out of a piece of curley english walnut.

I was happy to make a guide stick for Mr. O' Shea because he's one of the smoothest paddle boat captains I've ever tried to follow down the Gauley. O shady still hasnt picked this one up. So Rick call me, come get your paddle.