Edge protection for wood paddles

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.

I think you’re right.
I used it to replank the sole of our Ensign. I used a block plane to relieve the edges with a slight chamfer and to clean up the long curves on the outboard planks. Teak is not especially hard-working, but I was surprised at how quickly it dulled my plane iron.



They recommend wiping surfaces with acetone just before gluing. The only glue I used was straight West 105/205 to glue the screw-hole plugs, so I didn’t bother. I think we’ve only lost one out of about a hundred over a few seasons now.



I’ve never heard of anyone trying to steam-bend teak.

I rarely use ash for edging
Ash is tough and steam bends well however hickory and white oak are tougher yet. They are my preferred woods for edging.



I also use a variety of synthetic/composite edgings, especially for paddles that may get especially harsh usage. Those edgings are either blends of epoxy and various strengthening fillers or one of several synthetic yarns, saturated with epoxy.

The reason teak is tough on tools…
…is that it contains a silica, which is essentially sand. Given that, it’s no wonder.

I won’t buy tropicals unless necessary.

– Last Updated: Nov-04-12 10:07 AM EST –

Last year I made some sailboat trim for my BIL from Honduras mahogany. That stuff is a dream to work.

I do collect pieces of exotics when I can get them for free, though. By far the toughest I've gotten was a 4" x 8" x 6' chunk of "Bongossi" that friends were using to build a seawall for a historic property in "The Point" section of Newport, RI. I'd never even seen anything quite like it before. Six passes did in a brand-new Forrest ripping blade.

Insist on Dynel Edges
I have many wooden canoe paddles, but most are not protective around the side edges. The bottom edges are usually protected, but the sides get chewed up when paddling outrigger, which means hours of sanding and varnishing. The wooden canoe paddles that have their entire edge covered by Dynel cloth rarely get damaged, especially when used by kids.

My mistake.
Thanks for the clarification.

I used Ipe on the last one …

– Last Updated: Nov-06-12 7:06 PM EST –

...... it's really hard , moving into the realm of Ebony but not quite .

Bought a plank to cut up for restoration of an old cast iron bench bought from the flea market and had a little bit left over .

One of the hardwood specialty places (Exotic Lumber) around here sells Ipe in 1-1/16" x 5-1/2" x 16' for deck planking . The stuff can be left outside unfinished for 100 years and not rot (just turns grey) .

Those of us who have worked with
different boat cloths are not uniformly convinced. Dynel is great when frictional wear is the problem (though is absorbs a lot of resin and is not that strong), but damage to paddle edges caused by adults involves not friction, but sharp, very localized compression force.



Carbon is great for compression force, but does not withstand frictional wear very well. Kevlar isn’t very good with compression. The best available solution, on paper, is S-glass. Tougher than ordinary FG, very good in compression, very hard and so resists frictional wear well. Except that Dynel is “slippery”, I don’t know any way it is as good as S-glass.



Mitchell, one of the most experienced makers of advanced paddles, has settled on glass “rope” for paddle edging. They could have used Dynel…



My Mitchell paddle has ash edging, and over 15+ years it has stood up quite well to local compression blows and to frictional wear. Lighter than glass or Dynel, and easily repaired.



I think Dynel paddle edging has gotten to be like Kevlar felt skid plates. Not used because it is best, but because it is kind of easy and has a good (undeserved) reputation for marketing.

So Far So Good
On a kid’s Kialoa outrigger canoe paddle, the Dynell edging is working out better than expected, and saving me a lot of time and work repairing edges. Of course, as technique improves, there’s less damage.