Hi Team, first time post, so thanks for your time!!
With paddling (V1/OC1) being One of the sports we can still do with friends, while still maintaining social distance. I’ve decided to try and make my own paddle as a hobby… have managed most of the build, but want some help of the paddle edges…
Does anyone know how to create the look attached? I noticed a few different paddles have the guards, but i can’t seems to find how you do it. Some discussions already in this forum, but after step by step and products to use… Any help much appreciated.
dynel has been used on paddles typically as edging to help with protection from rocks- I had a friend who built me a whole paddle blade once out of dynel cloth
I made a paddle that turned out with a quarter inch epoxy edge around the blade. I hadn’t set out to make such an edge, but ended up with one due to my uninformed process.
I had glassed the blade with fabric extended beyond the blade edge. I placed plastic sheeting over and under the blade and put plastic bags filled with sand on top. I didn’t really know what I was doing. When I pulled off the plastic the blade edges were ragged, and I cut away the excess fabric. Resin infused glass overlapped the paddle edges on both faces, with a small trough all along the edges. I subsequently filled in the trough with epoxy.
It was a lot of fussing and sanding, but I ended up with a glass-epoxy edge on the blade that has held up remarkably well.
Here is a photo taken against a window to highlight the translucent edges.
Thanks for the feedback team. Very help after reading through and watching hope the rope approach worked… after I read through and watching a few different suggested clips that came up after watching Guilimont I think I’ve figured out how to do the clean look.
Basically it start once the blade is glued to one piece , so even before you shape it. This is a rough guide of what I am going to try.
Cut the blade shape using a router. Don’t cut right through, only plunge 5cm. This will create a cannel.
Full the cannel with molded plastic. I was thinking of melting styrofoam and coloring it. Need to experiment with it.
Once the plastic is set, then cut the paddle shape with a saw and only to the edge of the plastic.
Then sand the paddle as you would into shape.
Fingers crossed it works. Will post a pic if it goes well lol…
Mitchell Paddles (I’m not sure about currently) would edge their paddles with rope and seal it With some sort of resin so it would be smooth. I have a whitewater blade that is a wood core with carbon overlay that has that rope edging that is still going strong nigh 20 years now. If you like I can get pics later today when I go to the Store and Boathouse.
Thanks Marshall, good to know that. I was a little worried with the rope approach. Thought given it’s one piece, that a knock might pull the edges away in one go if you know what I mean lol.
