: ...or is it just the photo?

Well, I tapered the edges of one those paddles. Really surprised at the different feel it had. Hard to explain but it did feel better and much more like my first paddle that I kept going back to.

After you posted this I looked and realized that old one had square but much thinner edges. That apparently was a lot of what made it 'feel' better than other others I have made. So I altered the latest one and I like it better now.

Best part is that I can actually paddle it silently. Finding out why I was always going 'plunk' when the blade entered was great! The ends were just to blunt and that should have been obvious to me.