Friday, August 24, 2012

Fort Severn Cree Paddles

Doug Ingram is a master wood working artisan who operates Red River Canoe out of Lorette, Manitoba. His wonderful blog, Wood Be Creative showcases some of the amazing work he does (much more than just canoes). He is part of the Fort Severn Canoe Restoration project and recently returned with some great photos of the local paddles. His blog posts from August 16 & Aug 19th showcase these traditional designs adapted for use with motorized freighter canoes... 





Doug also posted pics of a unique looking paddle with a distinctively nubby tip, which he  decorated with traditional Cree markings...  



Here's the description from Doug's post giving more details.
A traditional paddle, since the arrival of motorized freighter canoes, is the pole paddle. Stan Thomas called it a "Hunter's Paddle". These are about 88" long, and the shaft and blade are each about 44" long. The shaped tip is for purchase in the shallow gravel river beds. When it wears done it is just re-shaped a little shorter. The blade is flat on one face and shaped on the other.

Many thanks to Doug  for his efforts in documenting this unique paddle design and to Mike O for posting about this earlier last week.



( Photos courtesy of Doug Ingram, Red River Canoe )



1 comment:

Mike said...

Doug is certainly a master craftsman....and has so much info on paddles....and canoes....

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