Over the years I’ve made about 20 times as many boats as I have paddles because, with the exception of Greenland paddles, most commercial paddles are better made and less expensive than my time and skills can afford.
Occasionally though with the liberal application of power tools and a few household objects I can hack out a reasonable facsimile of a decent blade. I built this Sitka spruce canoe paddle to use up the leftover wood from the oar project. It would last a lot longer with a hardwood band around the perimeter and fiberglass on the blades but that’s two more days of work than I have time for. I also just suck at fiberglassing.
I finished this paddle with Rubio Monocoat as part of my ongoing experiment to determine how Rubio stacks up against other marine finishes. This is the indoor formulation which despite a lack of UV inhibitors I think is going to be better for this use because it’s a much thicker product. Even though it says mono coat in the name I generally put two coats on. I also paint it on with a small foam brush before scrubbing and wiping off which consumes about twice the material but soaks deeper into the thirsty softwood grain.
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