Greenland Paddle--one piece vs 2 piece

My next Greenland will be two piece.  It will travel better in the car and on the kayak so I will use it more.  I photograph from my kayak and Greenland paddles get sloppy if you do not keep a consistent stroke so I often do not take a Greenland.  After doing some photography for a couple of hours (after the morning light has turned harsh) I like to do a 3-5 mile exercise paddle.  With a 2 piece paddle I could carry the Greenland more easily and switch to that for the exercise paddle.  The only thing that made my heart stop is when you said " one of those metal push-button ferrules".  If you are in a strip kayak with a wood paddle spring for the extra $8 and get one f these.  http://www.duckworksbbs.com/product-p/lo_greenland.htm  A Carbon fiber ferrule would look so much nicer.  You can probably stretch drip rings enough to put them on a one piece Greenland but I have fond they get in the way.

I use a two piece as a spare, and as noted above, the carbon fibre ferrule is great. For a primary paddle, I find it hard to beat an oval loom. I do keep planning to build a paddle carrier for the roof rack, but when travelling if the car is full, I just strap to roof racks with a cut-down cam tie-down.

My backup GP has the Duckworks ferrule, which is round, but the loom tapers, from round at the ferrule, to my standard 1.5 - 1.25 oval at the shoulders.

There's a problem with using hard, rigid ferrules with soft wood like cedar; it will compress under pressure (where the wood meets the ferrule) and eventually the bond will fail. If you look at the commercial paddles that these ferrules are commonly used on, they have hardwood shafts or looms, or they're made of fiberglass or carbon fiber. That, combined with the fact that the shape (round) is wrong for a GP loom is the reason that I avoid making two-piece paddles.

I agree with what Brian says and for the best Greenland experience one piece is better.  Like everything in kayak design it comes down to what you compromise and what you don't.  I will compromise some stability for speed, I will compromise some tracking for responsiveness..,  If my focus was Greenland paddling I would go for a one piece.  I really like Greenland style paddles but it is not in my top 5 priorities and the convenience of the two piece means I would use it more even if it is a little compromised.  I think that is what you need to consider in this decision and you are getting some good feedback to help you consider the options.  One thing I didn't mention is the boat matters also in the overall equation.  If you are wanting the best experience with a Greenland paddle you want at a minimum a lower volume design boat especially with a lower deck based on my experience.  You may just need to build a few more boats and paddles.

I like a 2 piece paddle and lately have expanded to doing a adjustable loom paddle in order to find what actually is the right length, width etc.  Here is a series of paddles where all the looms are adjusted to the same length, but each paddle is one inch different from the one next to it.  There are 5 paddles in two different widths and then two in the next narrower width and then a Grandkids paddle { adjusted different than the rest}.  A Bakers Dozen

Just to be clear, those are all carbon fiber paddles, correct?

Yes..Carbon