Homemade paddles

I made a two-piece paddle back when I got my first kayak...

The closet-pole-and-plywood paddle.

Two-piece wood paddle.

I had some marine plywood leftovers from an old project, and I traced the blades from a Sevlor paddle onto a couple of those and cut out the blades, as seen in the photos.  The Sevlor was the only paddle I had owned, back then, and I really didn't know what I was doing.  Half of the original closet rod had to be thrown out, and the new rod doesn't seem to match the old one, so the paddle is probably unbalanced as-is.

I never finished fitting the both parts to the ferrule, so the paddle is unfinished and has never been used.  The current plan is to make the blades narrower, thin the shafts a bit, and reduce the overall length.  The blades are epoxied to the shafts, but I put stainless screws in to keep the blades firmly attached, and I guess I can get rid of those.

The plywood is discolored after being in a sometimes damp storeroom for several years.

The aluminum ferrule, which isn't finished either.

Paddle two is a homemade greenland paddle.  It's made with redwood from the local big-box home improvement store, and some walnut, maple, and birch scraps that had been hanging around.  I had some small teak scraps that went on the tips.  This one wasn't finished either, since I lost my workspace before I got around to doing the final shaping and putting on a finish.

Greenland paddle.  Looks nice, but I think I used too much hardwood.  I'm going to try and thin it carefully to make it light without being flimsy.

The homemade GP, still unfinished.  This was originally going to be a two-piece paddle, but  I changed my mind,  and ended up with a really ugly scarf joint in the middle of the shaft.

 I made these paddles without much woodworking experience to draw on, using ordinary hand tools for most of the work, in cramped conditions, so nothing was done in an afternoon, or even overnight, and neither paddle is likely to be finished soon.