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Mostly, UV protection. Some epoxies are more UV resistant than others but all are susceptible to some degree. A good quality varnish with UV inhibitors, reduces that risk. Also, for paddles that require a high degree of finish, varnish provides that. It flows better than epoxy and readily buffs...

The blade is laminated, largely of western red cedar. WRC is quite soft. The blade would have to be built much thicker/heavier to have adequate strength, without the fiberglass sheathing. It would also dent quite easily. In short, the composite construction allows in sum, for a much stronger and...

Once the hand sanding is completed, the entire paddle, shaft, grip and blade are sealed with epoxy. A lot of the 1st coat is sucked up by the wood. After it has cured to a green state, I generally apply a second coat before glassing the blade. A third coat is applied to the shaft and grip before...

Refining the shape of the grip is all hand/eye work. It's got to look right and feel right. This is mostly done with sandpaper wrapped around various shaped, foam blocks. The same applies to the shaft. My shafts are generally oval to provide a good "feel" (on the shaft hand) for blade...

I remove the milling marks from the blade, and do a final refinement of it's shape on an inflatable drum sander. Varying the pressure in the drum allows it to conform, to varying degrees, to the contours of the blade. I also do the final shaping of the shaft and grip with the drum sander. More...

Otters on Rainbow River, Dunnellon Florida. Taken Thursday, Nov. 13th.

Trying to drill new holes that will line up perfectly with the existing ones will be difficult at best, especially if you don't have a drill press. I'd be inclined to fill the old holes either by gluing in dowels or with wood filler/sawdust mixed with epoxy. Then I'd clamp the pieces together...

Once the rough cutting is done, it's necessary to refine the shape of the tip, as shown here. This is done by eye, on a stationary belt sander. It's necessary to keep a close watch on several reference points so that everything stays symmetrical. Essentially, it's "thinning the camber" at and...

Dana, Thanks for that clarification. Seems like we were talking the same language, only with different dialects.

If I understand all of this correctly, my paddles, by your description, have zero mean camber. With some few exceptions, most skilled paddlers (with the exception of many racers and others employing bent shaft paddles) employ a variety of in-water recoveries and loaded slices. The paddle is...

The material that I use comes like overly large, flat ,shoelace. It's approx. 1/2" wide x 1/4" thick. In a future photo, I'll show it being applied (on another paddle that I'm currently working on).

These photos show the rough shaped blade with Dynel edging around the tip and lower portion of the blade. This paddle will be a shallow water special and likely will get banged around a bit. The Dynel edging is highly abrasion and impact resistant. I didn't show the Dynel being applied, prior to...

I'm not planning on showing more detailed photos of the jig. I've spent a great deal of time designing and refining it. Perhaps someone will come up with a better idea (other than CNC). As to a "reference surface" when flipping the blade. That was one of the early obstacles to overcome. I solved...

That's a great question(s). I'm never quite certain about the term "dihedral" as it pertains to paddle blades, as I would presume that almost all blades are "dihedral" unless each face is completely flat, i.e., the same thickness from edge to edge. Camber, on the other hand, refers to the...

Rough cutting one of the four facets of the blade. I'm using a proprietary router and sled jig, that I designed, for the purpose. The jig ensures that all four facets are identical; that the blade has matched camber on the front and back faces. A blade on which the camber is not perfectly...

After the final glue up and template sanding, the next step is rough rounding of the shaft and grip on the shaper, using an appropriately sized router bit. This usually takes at least three passes on each of the facets. Taking very light cuts minimizes the chances of grain tear out, which at...

The glued up blank is 3/4" thick. Approx.11/16" after cleaning the glue up and running it through the planer. The grip cheeks and shaft facings add another 1/2 ".

After adhering the shaft faces and grip cheeks the faces and cheeks are trimmed flush with the blade blank, using a drum sander with flush bearing (like a flush trim router bit) but without the risk of tear out. The next step will be rough rounding of the shaft and grip.

Most of my blades, are buoyant to about 3/4 blade depth. Those with longer shafts tend to go a bit deeper and vice versa. River blades, being built a bit more study also tend to "float" a bit deeper.

Yes. Balance is important. When the shaft hand is in it's "normal" position, 4-6" above the throat, the paddle should be slightly blade heavy, IMO. Years ago, I remember seeing some paddles that had been grip weighted with an ounce or so of lead so as to offset too much blade weight. Figuring...