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V O L . X X X I I N O. X X I V § 2 O C T O B E R 1 9 , 2 0 2 6 28 M A D E I N M A I N E F O C U S Shaw & Tenney's new owners consider themselves stewards of the brand B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r E stablished 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 com- pany. 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 pro- fessional. 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 cur ve is pretty steep," Gutekunst said. That includes complex shapes — specialty paddles, square-to-round oar shafts, differ- ent 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 hard- woods ash and cherrywood, each with char- acteristics 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 hun- dred 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 capac- ity, both for premium made-to-order products and utility stock. Sales of the line started last 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 team members are fantastic, our products are gorgeous and we're constantly striving to do better," said Gutekunst. Editor's note: is story originally ran Nov. 17, 2025. Alex Bagley sands an oar on a drum sander on the Shaw & Tenney shop floor in Orono. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY The team members here are fantastic. The products are gorgeous. — Neil Gutekunst Shaw & Tenney In 2023, Neil and Jennifer Gutekunst became the fourth owners of Shaw & Tenney, a maker of traditional wooden oars and paddles founded in 1858. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY

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