Soft Maple for Paddles?

[Gary]

Hi I have a nice piece of 12/4 soft maple 6' long and 6" wide, with great colouring. I'm wanting to re-saw it to book match the two pieces making two paddles with identical grain pattern and colour. I've used figured and birds eye maple for paddles before but not soft maple. Will it be strong enough for paddle making?
Thanks, Gary

 

[pklonowski]

I think the grain is more important than the strength of the wood. If the grain is straight, it's probably worth finding out! If the grain runs out the sides too much, I'd save it for something else.

 

[Benson Gray]

I expect that it will be fine if the grain is good as Paul mentioned. My favorite wood for paddles is spruce. Soft maple is both harder and stronger than that.

Benson

 

[Rob Stevens]

I have carved many paddles from soft maple. As Benson mentioned above, it is stronger than spruce.

One thing you can do to maximize strength is make the shaft oval, with the larger dimension perpendicular to the face of the blade.

 

[Gary]

Thank you everyone, the grain is good which first attracted me to this piece of wood. I have also used spruce for paddles and I like the idea of the oval shaft.
Looks like I'll give it a go!
Gary

 

[pklonowski]

And post pictures... lol