#Last wood paddle how to#

Use epoxy resin to saturate the cloth, which is lower in viscosity than epoxy glue. Undersize the shaft as you will be adding material, which will increase the diameter of the shaft. Sand the damaged area until you get to bare wood. The easiest treatment for this type of problem is to wrap the shaft with carbon fiber or fiberglass cloth. You can prolong the life of the shaft in a number of ways, but failure will surely happen ten yards from the finish line when your crew is in first place. Stress cracks in the shaft of the paddle are a sign of eminent doom. Fitting in a piece of new wood, which is sanded to dimension and then refinished, can repair larger dings. Small missing chunks up to about Y4 inch in size can be filled with epoxy if you can't find the piece. Simple clamps can be devised using masking tape, bands of rubber, or any other method you can think of to hold the piece in place until the glue dries. Epoxy has excellent gap filling properties and does not require high clamping pressure. I have found that epoxy glues work best for these types of repairs. If you can find the broken piece it is a simple matter of gluing it back in place. If you should happen to nick a chunk out of your paddle, the first rule of repair is to find the missing piece. Frequent touch ups of your paddle will save you the stress of major repairs and significantly increase the life of your paddle.īroken pieces and stress cracks are more problematic and may require power tools to do the job easily. The important factor is symmetry of the shape (that both sides are equal). Don't get overly worried about the outline shape of the blade paddle design is extremely tolerant of 'new' shapes. If you have rubbed the edge of the blade raw and the wood is fuzzy you might have to start with 40 grit paper and reshape the edge. A sequence of 80 grit sandpaper followed by 150 grit sandpaper will usually take care of most minor to medium nicks. Larger abrasions may require sanding to obtain a smooth surface. Be sure to let the water in the wood dry out before applying the finish. Once water penetrates into the wood via a fracture in the finish, the process of a slow and painful death begins.ĭabbing an exterior grade varnish or polyurethane on the bare wood can cover small dings in your paddle.

If you can keep water from penetrating into the fibers of the wood, you will be doing a lot to prolong the life of your paddle. The mortal enemy of all wood products is water. About the only requirement for maintenance and repair of your paddle is the ability to read the instructions on a can of varnish. If you think repairing your canoe paddle is beyond your capability, think again.

#Last wood paddle how to#

The following write up will explain in detail how to prolong the life of your wood paddle.

While the first two dilemmas may be solved in the distant future, I suspect that as long as people paddle outrigger canoes, they will find some object on which to hit their paddles. In a perfect world nobody would be homeless, everyone would have enough to eat, and our canoe paddles would last forever.