Repairing and Refinishing Your Paddle

Refinishing

1. Dry your paddle thoroughly.  That means at least a week out of water, maybe longer. Refinishing a wet paddle will cause bubbling in the finish.
   
   
2. Get one of those inexpensive foam brushes and a small can of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane.
   
   
3. Sand off any rough spots using progressively finer sandpaper (220 grit or so)
   
   
4. Put the varnish on with a fairly dry brush...you don't want to glop it on.  4 thin coats is better than one thick, gloppy coat.  Wait for it to dry between coats.  We use fishing line to hang up the paddle while it dries.  You could use dental floss too. You may also want to lightly wet sand the finish after the first coat with 400 grit wet sandpaper (black) if there are any imperfections in the finish.
   
   
5. Remember -- it is important to seal the wood the instant it is exposed.  If you keep on top of it, your paddle should last virtually forever.  And it is better to do a poor varnishing job than to leave bare wood since Malama can always sand off a bad varnish job and make your paddle like new but he cannot make a paddle that has rot look like new.

Repairing Dings

1. Get some of that 2 part epoxy (it comes in a double tube container with a plunger and you can buy it almost anywhere)
   
   
2. Get something to mix it like a disposable wooden chopstick and a piece of tin foil or card stock.
   
   
3. Take masking tape and spread it along the underside of the ding (assuming the ding is on the edge of your paddle -- you can skip the masking tape if the ding is in the center somewhere).  Leave the part of the masking tape sticking out beyond the paddle - you'll need it later.
   
   
4. Mix up your epoxy and mush/drop it into the ding area (the masking tape is holding it at the bottom)
   
   
5. Fold the masking tape over the edge of the paddle and shape the epoxy to follow the curve of the paddle and be about the same thickness.
   
   
6. After the epoxy sets, the masking tape should peel off.
   
   
7. Sand the epoxied area with 220 grit sandpaper.
   
   
8. Follow above instructions for varnishing the area.
   

Repairing Cracks

1. Get some of that 2 part epoxy (it comes in a double tube container with a plunger and you can buy it almost anywhere)
   
   
2. Get something to mix it like a disposable wooden chopstick
   
   
3. Mix up your epoxy and mush/drop it into the crack area.  Grab the blade and flex it back and forth so the epoxy runs into the crack.  Be careful you don't get carried away and break it!
   
   
4. After the exoxy sets, sand and refinish
   
   

Repairing Broken Pieces

Some breaks will never be as good as new. A broken shaft usually can't be repaired in a way that you can trust it not to break again.

A split blade, however, can be repaired as good as new.   Just epoxy it together and strap it tightly with masking tape until the epoxy sets.  Then sand and varnish.  Same for a broken top.

Words of Encouragement

Don't let this intimidate you.  If you try and refinish your paddle and think it looks like junk, it is no big deal for Malama to sand off the finish and make your paddle just as good as new.  A junk finish is always better than no finish!