Edge protection for wood paddles

Similar to epoxy

– Last Updated: Oct-31-12 11:07 AM EST –

I have coated the tips of my guide-boat oars with marine-grade J-B Weld. I had no concern about "matching the color", but I did give the job a somewhat-neat appearance by masking the edges with tape before applying the coating. These oar blades have much tougher edges than most paddles and are not prone to chipping or denting, but abrasion from sand or gravel in shallow water can be a problem (I don't want the wood to soak up water every time the varnish starts wearing off). The J-B Weld is holding up pretty well, and it should be easy to fix any locations that wear though.

The best edge protection I’ve had is ash
glued to the edges of my Mitchell slalom paddle. The paddle is now roughly 16 years old. The ash is hard, and tough, and best of all, easily repaired with small amounts of epoxy. (G-flex would be the preferred kind today.) I haven’t had to do any repairs.



Ash edging is special order, but it is lighter than Mitchell’s glass rope edging, and less likely to crack.



Some use slippery Dynel edging, but the problem for paddle edges isn’t frictional wear, it’s compression blows, and Dynel really doesn’t excel at that.



I’ve tipped home-made paddles with mixed strands of Kevlar and glass, and epoxy resin. Usually I bring this edging up the paddle sides a few inches. As edging, it’s OK, but not as good as ash.



Mahogany marine plywood, used as a paddle blade, absorbs a lot of West epoxy and becomes quite tough. But plywood is not a good material for ww paddles.



Ash. Think about it.

Oak works, too
I put oak edges on a paddle that I had trashed while paddling in sea ice. The oak edging took a beating for several years but showed virtually no wear.

Ash n Oak … What was the finish
you used ? … Were they glassed over, did glass wrap edges ? Or simple brushed, sprayed on finish over the wood ? If it got dinged, did finish stay on ? How thick was it … Thick = blade width addition.



Just wondering and thank you.

The ash edging was not glassed, but
probably Mitchell ran the epoxy over the edges before varnishing.



Check this out if you hadn’t heard. Backlund apparently used hickory for edging.



http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/articleid/31548/



I have an old 206 cm 90 degree wood, glass faced, metal tip wrapped New World that I treasure. I should have had Keith reduce the 90 degree and shorten it a bit, before he had a stroke and backed off on work.

Eric
Here is a link to Darryl’s webshots album on paddle making. Does this help?



http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563215213EYKnOz

automotive door guard

– Last Updated: Nov-01-12 5:16 PM EST –

I asked a similar question earlier this year and someone had a good suggestion... Use clear door protector edging available at any auto parts store (napa, checkers, pep boys ect.) The stuff is usually put on the vertical edge of your door for a bumper/ding preventer.

I used this this summer for a while and it works great and takes a beating. Its about a dollar a foot and it worked for a month or so. It wanted to pull away at the edges where the paddle bent but I just put a couple rubber bands around the edge it and let it sit for a week and it held its shape fine after that.

It would get hooked on weeds so I took it off for deep lake paddling but would put another strip on when I knew I was going to a shallow rocky river for the weekend (like the St croix around here). Not a permanent solution but if you don't want to work with epoxy/glass or only occasionally paddle in shallow/rocky areas its a cheap and easy fix.

It cost me $6 for the summer and my paddle tip is still mint.

fiberglass and epoxy?
that’s what I used not knowing any better after the bare wood started showing up just above where the Rockguard ends on my BB Espresso Plus, then varnish. Maybe the glass doesn’t add anything above just epoxy alone?


Glass fibers will add “something”.
And mixing in some Kevlar strands will reduce the chance of chipping pieces out of your edging.



Epoxy is a wonderful binder, but by itself, it is actually less sturdy than a lot of plastics, such as Nylon, Lexan.



But epoxy binds strongly to fibers, fillers, and surfaces of other materials. That’s something other plastics often don’t do. It is the combination of epoxy with suitable reinforcing fibers that can make a paddle edge strong.

Ash makes a lot of sense.
My ash canoe pole gets scraped and bashed on rocks a lot, and doesn’t show much wear for it. Working with ash (such as rounding stock for a pole) dulls your tools faster than a lot of woods. There’s a hint.

I used an oil-varnish blend
It’s the same 50:50 blend of tung oil and varnish that I use on all of my paddles. The finish does wear off, but it’s quick and easy to renew. The underlying oak is hard enough that it never wore appreciably.

That’s the one
Taking a quick look at it, I don’t see an explanation of what the resin is, but perhaps someone here knows.

Ash shines for steam-bending.
It shouldn’t dull your tools though. I’ve never noticed a difference anyway.



I think Gillespie and Mornstein both edge-band their paddles with ash.

All wood dulls tool steel.
Some slower than others. Some steels dull slower than others. But process enough wood and you will notice it. I’m pretty finicky about sharp tools. That’s not any reason to avoid hardwoods where they are appropriate though.

You know what I meant.
And nobody’s more anal about sharp tools than I am.



Well, except for maybe Nystrom and Wilson. ;^)

Well, okay…
…so long as you know what I meant. :wink:

Try teak in comparison.
That stuff is as bad for edge tools as it is for your wallet.

Door guard advantage - cushionining
Epoxy-finsihed edges will crack and chip with hard blows on rocks, even if there is a hard wood, Dynel, or other sort of reinforcement. They will also simply wear off over time. The door edge provides a bit of cushioning to minimize and eliminate chips. It can be easily replaced preiorically.



Thanks for the tip about the rubber band to make it conform to the paddle shape. A bit of heat gun application might also work.



This type of door edge protector might not work well on very thick edged blades, but is perfect for thin-edged blades.

Harder to steam bend and glue, too, no?

Or ironwood!
I will probably be using some teak soon for a little work on the sailboat. Thanks for the heads-up.