Paddle repair

Thursday, October 2, 2008, 3 comments

With a kind of crude tapered finger splice joint the old paddle got a new tip, instead of the one probably floating around along the swedish southwest coast.

The "fingers" were cut with a douzuki saw, with some difficulty in getting a true fit. Too much epoxy in the joints would have increased weight and compromised the balance of the paddle. The tip were rough shaped on a jointer and then sanded.

Now it only needs a rubbing down

Tried in the simplest of ways - a finger under the midpoint - the balance seems fine. The new blade tip feels a little more flexible though. That may be due to differences in wood quality, or that the old blade been repeatedly soaked in cold salt water through the years...