: Rounded was the original plan. The trick was the tips went on after
: most of the carving was done (paddle was coming out a little too
: short). Tips turned out to be easy to add even in that
: situation, so I figured if I don't like it I can swap them out,
: but 1" tips didn't lend themselves to rounding.

Yeah, the tips on my paddles are actually a block cut out of a 1x4, so are 3 1/2" wide. I just epoxy on the block, wait a couple days for it to set up hard, then carve to match the paddle. I've tried pre-shaping the blocks but it never seems to come out right, so the paddle looks strange for awile with these square blocks stuck on the end :)

With that width I can easily round the tips. Btw, if like Brian says the edges start chipping, you can always round into the wood the rest of the paddle is made from, doesn't hurt a thing.

I think that'll be late spring for you though, there's a boat project coming up :)

Bill H.