Um, Bill, thanks for the input.

If I follow your metric in regards to weight in comparison to my most frequently used paddle, 22% of the weight of the paddle would be in the very outmost 3" of either end of something over 7" long (or in the case of this particular paddle fractions of an inch less than 8'). While I appreciate your skepticism, 22% of anything is not insignificant. If you add edging, you are pushing an even greater percentage of the total weight of the paddle out to the ends. Depending on the length of the paddle, species used, finish used- you get a lot of variables. But to be sure, swinging something long that has 1/4 of its weight at the ends is a lot different from swinging something with most of its mass in the center.

My back of envelope is different from yours, I think........

Bill suggested a 3" x 3" x 1/2" piece of hardwood on each end of the paddle.
That's 4.5 cu. in. or about 75 cm^3
That hardwood will be replacing WRC which has a density of about 0.38 g/cm^3
Suppose one uses maple or ash as the hardwood - both have a density of about 0.75 g/cm^3
So the difference will be about 0.4 gm/cm^3
For 75 cm^3 that's about 30 grams - close to 1 oz. added weight on each end
Your paddle weighs 30 oz?
2 oz is 1/15 of the total paddle weight, not 1/4.

Nevertheless, you may well be able to feel the difference in 'swing weight'.
People sometimes laugh at me when I take the rubber drip rings off my paddles, but I'm not paying $500 for a carbon paddle to add rubber weights to the ends!
;-)
The loom is usually lighter than the blades, so there's enough weight out there already.

There's a common science class demo on Moment of Inertia that uses two rods of equal total mass, with one having the principal mass in the center and the other at the ends. It's worth finding it on YouTube for the entertainment value alone.

Anyhow, only the most hardy of 'Greenland' paddlers in N. America need to push aside ice with their paddles, so perhaps the extra armour isn't necessary on modern paddles. That said, I do a few paddle repairs to friends' standard (aka Euro) paddles every year, so extra toughness never hurts.