I went through a lot of design considerations when making my first greenland paddle re: the glassing question. I decided to glass the first 5 inches or so of blade, to protect against rock dings etc. For the edges, I filed out a little trench and laid some epoxy-soaked polypro line into it, then smoothed it over with more epoxy and sanded it. Although I was concerned about wear on the blades, I agree that for the most part, unfinished is best (I did give it a coat of tung oil which I reapply every now and again). Part of the reason, I believe, is that besides the better feel of wood, you want to retain flexibility. In theory, it provides some shock absorbing qualities for your arms, and also there is the addage about what can bend doesn't break. For the same reason, if you do glass the ends, I wouldn't glass down too far as the juncture of the glassed and unglassed part of the paddle will potentially create an area where all the force generated on the paddle tip will become concentrated vis-a-vis the rest of the paddle and you can get a break there. BTW, my paddle is cedar. If you don't like the paddle at first, keep using it for a month or so. I found that my braces felt soft at first and some things like a turning brace had to be done more timidly than with my Euro paddle, but now I much prefer the greenland paddle. It has a more intuitive feel in the water, is easy on the hands and arms, does not propel my kayak at noticeably lower speeds, and seems easier for me to scull and roll with than my original paddle.

Enjoy, Dave

>>I've been working on building Greenland-style paddle according to the
> dimensions described at http://seacanoe.org/grnpadle.htm and it's almost
> ready for finishing. I have a couple of questions:

> 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.

> Ross