On paddles and oars, I've always epoxied on a hardwood tip about 1/2" wide with the grain running across the end of the blade. It's easy if you just square off the end of the blade and glue on the hardwood bit as a rectangular block, then shape it to match the blade cross-section after the epoxy cures. The hardwood can be anything durable - I've used mahogany, teak, oak, or locust from a tree that died in the yard. Alternatively, to use up some spare time, I got creative on one pair of oars and used two pieces of different hardwoods, the end one being the sacrificial part, and the one directly against the oar having a sort of swallowtail shape and matching cutout in the oar tip - more work, but pretty and easier than I thought.

This was on blades that are more or less flat across the end - never tried it with a v-shaped blade plan as some of the Greenland paddles, though a steam-bent or laminated tip would work for that, I think.

Mike