Showing the blades and the different wood textures. The three on the left are Western Red Cedar, the other is Alaskan Yellow Cedar. Normally the grain in a Greenland paddle is perpendicular to the blade for strength. But note that the darker paddle has the grain parallel to the blade. This wood is old growth Western Red Cedar and the exceptionally fine grain allows the paddle to work with the grain parallel. The sun angle allows you to see the curved blade wing shape surface.