The Orono manufacturer produces oars, paddles and spars, each drawn from time-honored patterns, then cut, refined, sanded and richly varnished.
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Established in 1858, Shaw & Tenney in Orono is a traditional maker of wooden oars, paddles, spars and boat hooks.
In July 2023, Neil and Jennifer Gutekunst became just the fourth family to own the company. They consider themselves stewards of the brand, using much of the same machinery dating back a century and having a deep bench of skilled craftsmen.
“Our shop is a pretty cool, old woodshop,” said Neil Gutenkunst.
Career pivot
The Gutekunsts came to Shaw & Tenney in a surprising manner. Neil is a former U.S. Marine Corps judge advocate and criminal defense attorney. Jennifer was a human resources professional. Woodworking was new to them.
In 2019, they moved from suburban Philadelphia to Portland and bought Gorham custom stair tread manufacturer New England Treads. After time on the shop floor learning to run a wood mill, they bought Waldoboro mahogany screen door maker the Wooden Screen Door Co.
Learning that Shaw & Tenney’s previous owner, Steve Holt, was thinking of selling, they went for it.
“The learning curve is pretty steep,” Gutekunst said.
That includes complex shapes — specialty paddles, square-to-round oar shafts, different lengths and wood species, all perfectly straight and free of knots and defects — for demanding use on the water and endowed with wood’s distinctive flexibility and shock-absorbing characteristics.
The shop is full of bandsaws, table saws, lathes, sanding drums and hand tools. Lumber used includes the softwood spruce and hardwoods ash and cherrywood, each with characteristics that balance features like flex, strength and beauty.
Each product is made from a single piece of wood. For the oars, the shaft is turned on a lathe and the blade hand-crafted.
The company produces a couple of hundred pairs of oars and a couple of thousand paddles yearly, each drawn from time-honored patterns, then cut, refined, sanded and richly varnished, either by hand or in a “dip tank.”
New product lines
The Gutekunsts are moving forward a project, begun by the previous owner, to produce utility oars, under the brand name Woodland Oar and Paddle, and sell them in bulk at a lower price point through business-to-business deals.
A lathe updated with help from the University of Maine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center provides faster operations, turning out four oar shafts in 12 minutes, compared with one in half-an-hour. The result is increased capacity, both for premium made-to-order products and utility stock.
Sales of the line started earlier this year with Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis, Md., which has a longstanding relationship with Shaw & Tenney as the latter’s only other oar dealer. The goal is to secure a couple more dealers for Woodland Oar and Paddle distribution on the East and West coasts.
Shaw & Tenney is partnering with South Portland hand-forged axe-maker Brant & Cochran to produce axe handles; the Advanced Manufacturing Center assisted with the prototype. The goal is to have handles ready for holiday sales this year.
A line of bags is in development, too.
“The team members are fantastic, our products are gorgeous and we’re constantly striving to do better,” said Gutekunst.
