I checled: my el-cheapo oars are varnished except for the handles which are raw, but all my single and double-bladed paddles have varnished shafts - except for the awful aluminum-shafted thing which isn't mine anyway, I'm looking after it for a buddy. The intereseting thing about that is, I wear gloves for paddling but never with the oars - I never thought about it before.

I should get sanding . . .

Nick: you should probably varnish the blades if you haven't done so already . . .