> 1. I used what I had on-hand which was a clear piece of Aspen I picked-up
> at Home Depot. It seems like it will work ok. It's pretty flexible, in
> fact maybe a little too flexible. I hate for it to break, so I thought of
> covering the blades with some 2oz glass, but that seemed like overkill. I
> thought I could run an inch wide strip of glass down the center of each
> blade and that would give it a bit more rigidity and reduce the chances of
> it breaking. Any thoughts?

> 2. I could use epoxy to waterproof the paddle, but I understand a less
> slippery surface is more appropriate. What's a good coating for doing
> this?

> Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi Ross,

I made mine out of a nice piece of clear red cedar, and finished it with 4 or 5 coats of boiled linseed oil applied on succesive days (you let the oil soak in overnite before putting more on, and stop when you get tired of it). The linseed oil brings the colour out in the wood to about the same degree as epoxy does. You can obviously check on a bit of scrap first.

I didn't bother with epoxy and glass, the thing weighs so little and feels so good in my hands that it would be a shame to epoxy & glass it and then varnish as well. As it is, my neighbour thinks I'm crazy for using it, He says I should hang it in my living room (my wife says I should not).

My paddle IS going to break (eventually), By the time it does I'll have a fairly good idea of wether it suits me and what chages I need to make on the next one. I'll just be gentle with it until the dreaded moment, and remember to take a spare paddle with me.

Also check out: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/cbrown/pdlemk.htm

Paul.