David Diaz aka Davy Days

Well it's been a while since I updated the ol paddle blog and since this last paddle turned out so good I thought that I'd post up a few pictures of it.

The majority of the blade is Alaska Yellow Cedar. It's damp, shock resistant, has a really tight grain and has a high strength to weight ratio. The AKC in this paddle was unique in that it had a very blonde tone with dark grain stripes. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the darker grain stripes are caused by different minerals in the soil. 

One detail that I've been working on lately is shaft diameter. I haven't had many shafts break so I've been slimming down the diameter with a lot of success. The greatest advantage of a wooden paddle is the flex of the solid core wood shaft, something that you don't get with a hollow core (think sailboat masts here, they are made with a hollow core to be stiffened up). 

The shaft of this paddle is made from ash and yellow cedar. The blade has yellow cedar, walnut fairing strips, ash bangstrips and a curly maple tip. Paddle blade terminology credit goes to the master Jim Snyder.

Build Your Own Paddle class

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!

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"

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

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.

Oars

We have busy in the shop making oars!

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