Paddle work in progress

[Guest]

Shop partner Joel brought up two more family-historic paddles from the camp, 40+ year old Old Towns. These are paddles number 4 and 5 from his family camp. We refurbished three last year; stripped to bare wood, nicks and chips repaired, and sanded baby butt smooth with carbon fiber tow epoxied onto the blade edges. Re-varnished (except the grips, which were oiled).

Joel’s brothers immediately declared those four memory sticks to be family heirlooms, so the last two need to be at least as fine.

Per our usual shop strategy I did nothing except hand Joel the tools he needed and put away what he was done with.



Sometimes my eyes go funny when Joel is making dust.



Laying on the carbon fiber tow edging is a pain, or at least a painstaking process. Paint a bead of G/flex on the paddle edge, lay on the tow, another bead of G/flex on top and smooth everything out with a tiny paintbrush. That carbon fiber tow and G/flex trim is as tough as anything that can wrap a paddle edge and once sanded and varnished it looks sharp.



Those sticks are ready for a final sanding and varnish/oil.



With the old school sticks nearly done we turned modern. Joel’s carbon Camano has many thousands of miles on it and needed some attention even before a car backed over the female ferrule.

Some clamping, finagling and G/flex in the cracks brought the crushed ferrule back to shape and two wraps with one inch 4oz glass tape and G/flex held it there. With the epoxy and cloth set that ends seems as sound as ever, but putting the ferrules together revealed a bit of wobble, some of which had been there before the car crushing. Thousands of miles of use as a guide’s stick will do that.

We had a shop debate about how, or even if, we should fix that. After some “Let’s try” and “Let’s not” debate we elected to try painting a coat of epoxy around the male ferrule end, keeping it as thin and even as possible all the way around, figuring that if it came out too tight some cautious wet sanding might be needed.

No sanding needed. That ferrule is as tight and wobble free as new.



A coat of varnish to give the repair some UV protection and that paddle is good for another 10,000 miles.

 

[memaquay]

I'm not familiar with carbon fiber tow, so I googled it. Is there a particular size you think to be best for paddle application? Is there a reason you prefer G-flex, or would any epoxy do? That was a great post, I've been looking for a product to use on the edge of paddles.

 

[Guest]

I'm not familiar with carbon fiber tow, so I googled it. Is there a particular size you think to be best for paddle application? Is there a reason you prefer G-flex, or would any epoxy do? That was a great post, I've been looking for a product to use on the edge of paddles.

Carbon fiber tow comes in a variety of sizes (widths), specified by thread count. I’ve tried using the 12K tow (about 1/8” wide) and 50K tow (closer to ½” wide). The 12K is much easier to work with and wraps a thin paddle edge nicely.

I have been told by folks who know far more than me about composite materials that carbon tow is not the ideal material to reinforce a paddle edge. But nothing I know of will warp that sharp blade edge as well or as easily.

I have a half dozen wood paddles edged with tow, and so far so good.

I used G/flex because it is tougher than West 105/205, and being more viscous was less likely to drip down the blade edge during installation.

Some (much?) of the toughness on my carbon tow edged blades may be provided by the G/flex.

I don’t remember where I purchased the tow. Maybe here:

http://www.acpsales.com/OnlineStore.php?cat=4998

The application is easy if time consuming, with most of the time spent at the end hovering over the blade using the tiny paintbrush to knock down any edge that started to lift before the epoxy got tacky.

 

[ppine]

There is something very personal about paddles, especially those with lots of miles and memories. Equipment maintenance in the winter is a wonderful way to stay connected to the sport of tripping.

 

[Hanz]

Nice way of keeping those paddles going. Can't wait to see them when finished.

 

[Guest]

Nice way of keeping those paddles going. Can't wait to see them when finished.

Me neither. Those two sticks have been sitting in the shop with the carbon fiber tow G/flexed in place since sometime in November, and I’m coming up on a varnish day for various half finished shop pieces. Time to do the final sanding, steel wool and tack cloth on those paddles.

Joel did all of the in-hand work on these paddles, and now that I’ve diddled with the final sanding I see how different they are. Those two 40-ish year old OT paddles are not anywhere close to being the same wood, or weight or grain.

It is hard to make the grain stand out without staining the wood. I know that staining is ill-advised until I am dead certain I am done sanding, and I am. Staining tends to highlight any sanding flaws, and especially any epoxy fills or repairs atop the wood. But I can’t resist. Walnut on one, Jacobean on the other.



Dang sometimes wood grain pops when stained. I do like that walnut stained Tiger-striped one.

Not so much with the bland color and lack of exposed grain on the Jacobean stained one, which is the nicer stick, lighter weight and much closer grained. But it is somehow dull with that stain.

I think it needs to be duller still. I went over the Jacobean stain with a couple of Ebony stain rubs. Oh yeah, much better. Once you go black….



A couple of days by the wood stove and the stained sticks are ready for the top coats. Varnish on the blades and shaft, oil on the grips. Leaving the grips unvarnished can make for a more comfortable top hand, and it also makes the varnishing job easier, I’ve got the unfinished handle to hold while varnishing and can hang the paddles to dry.

The easiest hanging solution I have found is to tape off a varnish line at the throat and wrap two cable ties around the grip. The tape gives me a nice even varnish line and the cable ties provide a convenient hanger loop.



Well, not varnish. I am liking these paddles enough that I was thinking of doing a proper job, thinning schedules and hand rubbing with real varnish. But the can of Epifanes I have is somewhat suspect and the half-full can of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane is still good to go.

Plus I can do two coats of Helmsman in a couple of day’s time and be able to make dust in the shop again. Spar urethane it is.



OK, those paddles are very different; the Tiger-striped one drank in the first coat of urethane, and I’m stuck in no-dust wait mode until I can lightly sand and recoat (at least once). And then another, longer wait before oiling the grips.

Many coats of hand rubbed oil. Good thing these aren’t due back in Canada until spring.

 

[Guest]

Time for some light sanding, and the difference in those two paddles is even more pronounced. After the first coat of urethane the tight grained ebony one is still baby butt smooth, but the tiger striped Walnut one is noticeably rough, despite both paddles receiving identical sanding and buffing.

Those Old Town sticks were most likely made by Shaw & Tenney in the late 50’s or early 60’s and I have no idea what wood choices S&T offered 50 years ago.

I’m guessing these are the Grand Lake Stream model, based on the 7 ½” blade size, oval shaft and now slightly reshaped grip. Today’s Shaw & Tenney choices (click “Learn about wood choices for more detail):

http://www.shawandtenney.com/engravableproduct/grand-lake-stream

Given the weight and visible grain characteristics of the sanded paddles before staining I’d guess the lighter weight tight grained one is soft maple (or spruce if not hardwood) and the showier grained one probably Sassafras (seems too light to be ash).

Light, careful sanding. I don’t want to get too aggressive, rub through the first varnish coat and scuff the stain. Then 0000 steel wool, tack cloth and re-coat.

 

[Guest]

After applying the second coat it s time for urethane coat #3.

I was kinda hoping to cheap out and get away with just two coats of urethane, but my second round has some runs and sags. I need to sand and steel wool again, this time with less concern for rubbing through the topcoat and scuffing the stain.

And then recoat thinly. Urethane is easy and inexpensive, but it’s harder to achieve a nice finish.

 

[Guest]

The third urethane coat is on and well cured. Time for the first coat of oil on the grips. I used my usual DIY oil mix; 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 spar varnish. That mix hand rubs and absorbs nicely and is a good use for otherwise hardening varnish dregs.



Those grips need another half dozen hand rubs with oil. There’s always something to play with in the shop.

 

[Guest]

Finished paddles

So, this started back in November. Slow we are.

A little wet sanding before the final coat of Minwax Helmans Spar Urethane.




Pretty paddles.



Carbon fiber tow and G/flex on the blade edges. Three coats of Spar Urethane on the shafts, four on the blades, all sanded and finally wet sanded between coats (it is hard to avoid drips and sags with urethane).

Seven coats of oil mixture (1/3 spar varnish, 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 boiled linseed oil) on the grips over the course of a couple of soak in and dry months. I finished the grips with a coat of furniture polish. They felt silky smooth and went off for presentation at a brotherly birthday party.

Joel might be permitted to borrow one if he behaves.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Mike

Nice looking Blades ! I've an old Bending Branches, that I've redone, several times ! It goes with me everytime, and always brings me home !

I love the Christmas tree lights over head ! Bet they adds a special glow to the shop !

Jim

 

[Guest]

I love the Christmas tree lights over head ! Bet they adds a special glow to the shop !

The shop is the biggest room in the house. We have hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in there for 30+ people. More than once. In a month or so we’ll be hosting a Bon Voyage for a niece who is going off to the Peace Corps and her college friends.

I expect that the late night gathering spot will end up in the shop with the Christmas lights on. There are 3000 white X-mas lights installed on the ceiling, and it’s a big room where no one cares if you smoke, spill a drink or drop a paper plate. The boats move out and the benches become 50’ of side table. The clean up the next morning is always epic.

The party events in the shop do prompt me to reorganize and clean once or twice a year. I’ve been at that for a few days now and it has been disgusting in a peculiar way.

The brown marmorated stink bug population has exploded here in the past few years and in the fall the sunny side of the house is covered with thousands of them like some low budget horror movie.

They are in, under and between everydamn thing in the shop. I thought I was grasping a piece of lint or debris in my pocket and popped one there with my fingers. I had to change my pants.