Tips Sail

A pair of autumnal festive paddles painted in orange from the current items page of the CherryGallery.com

Lately, I've been curious about Abnaki styled paddles with their intricate incised scroll and floral carved patterns (like the c.1878 Maliseet posted earlier and my own 1849 Passamaquoddy Replica). Information on these glorious designs has been really hard to come by, but I managed to find a few beautiful pics with clear images of this elegant style of paddle decoration courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History outstanding Native American collection.

Catalog No: 50.1/ 9825
Culture: ABNAKI, PENOBSCOT
Regions: EASTERN CANADA, NORTHEAST
Dimensions: L:182 W:20 H:3.5 [in CM]
Accession No: 1916-9

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Catalog No: 50.1/ 9826
Culture: ABNAKI, PENOBSCOT
Regions: EASTERN CANADA, NORTHEAST
Dimensions: L:171 W:16.5 H:3 [in CM]
Accession No: 1916-9

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Catalog No: 50 / 9792
Culture: MENOMINEE
Locale: WI, MENOMINEE INDIAN RESERVATION
Dimensions: L:99.2 W:10.5 H:1.8 [in CM]
Accession No: 1910-44

Came across the google albums Remy Reyjal, a paddle artisan from Moncton, New Brunswick who runs Fiddlehead Canoes. Some interesting shots of his paddle creations from his workshop...


Many of the designs feature patterns mentioned in Graham Warren's paddle making book, including the curved tip "Columbia River" on the far left, the cut out "Salish Hunter" (3rd from right) and an "Early Micmac" design with its spear tip blade (far right). My own version of this Micmac design was made way back in '08 from a suitable short stock piece of cherry

The paddle with the "Voyageur" blade (4th from right) also features the Battenkill grip which I had attempted earlier on a still incomplete whitewater paddle.

Here are some more shots of Remy's completed paddles posed with his gorgeous cedar canvas canoe...



Another shot of the Salish Hunter paddle with its cut out blade design.  Warren's book mentions its design as a silent night paddle allowing the used to paddle close to the hull without knocking and making sounds. The blade's scimitar like shape also looks like a pretty intimidating weapon.

Stumbled on the marvelously illustrated site of Aldo & Corrado Cherini. They've collected loads of sketched images representing various enthographic marine vessels from around the globe. Their North American Gallery showcases images of bark canoes. Most of the sketches are remakes of Adney & Chappelle's Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America which is now freely available online at Gutenberg.org (see post about that here). Still it is nice to peruse their galleries and see their sketched paddle artwork like the samples below...

Summer Antiques in Lake Placid New York has some interesting paddles posted on their site including the following collection of Adirondack Guide Paddles with very interesting spherical grips


Assortment of Adirondack paddles


Adirondack Guide Grips
Also in the store is a Penobscot style paddle with a scalloped, step styled grip. It looks to have been painted and is now faded to a dreary grey colour. Personally, I wouldn't paint the whole paddle in such a manner, but perhaps the original owner used an oil based paint as a sealant instead of having access to spar varnish.

Penobscot Paddle
To top off the collection, check out this Abenaki Birchbark canoe (circa 1895). Looks to be in great shape with a nice patina on the faded bark.


c. 1895 Abenaki Canoe