Refreshing my Greenland Paddles

I really like the aging process of a plain red cedar Greenland paddle. It starts out beautiful and accumulates scars from various adventures, getting sanded and oiled every few years, ultimately ending up on the front deck as a spare whenever I get around to making a new one. I like having my old primary paddle as a spare paddle because my body KNOWS that paddle, which is exactly what you want in any situation where you need your spare paddle. It feels like an old friend.

After putting some oil on the kayak frame today I took a couple minutes to mix up some Rubio Monocoat and refresh my Greenland paddles, (something I should do yearly but usually end up waiting until they are a near-fatal splinter hazard to actually get around to)

I’ve used Rubio Monocoat on my Greenland paddles for a couple years now based on the logic that the stuff has held up incredibly well on my wooden countertops being scrubbed with soap every day for 4 years; so how could it not work for a Greenland Paddle? I mean I guess saltwater could shift the balance of power here here, but I guarantee that no matter how hard I burnished multiple coats of Tung oil into the same counters, there’s no way the finish would hold up nearly that well!

Application time is also a big factor. Back when I was building Greenland Paddles for money the five day finishing process made it pretty hard to make any money. With the Rubio I just scrub in a coat one day and then the next, and that’s it.

The only downside is that the hardener really increases the durability and doesn’t come in small sizes so you have to commit to a pretty decent amount of that stuff if you wanna get the hardener with it. (although it can be used without it)

For paddles I mix up a small batch and paint it on with a foam brush and then scrub it in really hard with a white scrubby pad and then immediately wipe off the excess. It’s pricey stuff so I try to keep my brushes and rags small so I can squeeze them out.