Maintenance of oiled paddles

To keep your paddle in good order you can choose from two different strategies:
One strategy is simply not to maintain the paddle at all. By nature Western Red Ceder is well protected from rot and fungus. Salt water and UV light will however as time passes wash out the exterior/top colour of the wood and slowly break down the outermost wood fibre. This process leaves a silver grey patina to the paddle. The paddle will sooner look like a grave find, is great for paddling and will last you for many years to come. If you however want your oiled paddle to keep the reddish glow you will have to maintain the paddle. Sand the paddle gently using fine grained sand paper and apply oil – use a drying oil like Linseed oil or Danish oil. If the paddle calls for more an old rule of thump says. Oil almost daily at the beginning, then once in a while and after a while only now and again. If you which to apply lacquer to your oiled Greenland paddle we recommend using Tonkin lacquer, Le Tonkinois®, which goes well with the oil treatment.

Weight and Wear & Tear

A GreenlandPaddle in Western Red Ceder is very light indeed. By nature ultra light woods are a little fragile to rock and slag that can cause dints and cuts in the paddle. If you make dints or marks in your paddel you can once again choose from two different strategies: – the modern strategy or the Greenland strategy. If you choose the modern strategy you promptly land your kayak and knocks the head hard on a nearby rock or tree screaming. After this you treat the paddle for trauma by talking mildly to it for about 20 minutes. If you instead choose the Greenland strategy you joyfully paddle on and tell yourself ‘surely that also happened to my ancestors’.

After being exposed to water for a while the wood will ‘rejse sig’ slightly on oiled paddles. The surface will feel a little rough and it might be an idea to sand the paddle – especially the grip – with fine grained sand paper. Start around grain 120 then double to grain 240 and so forth till you are satisfied. Then apply oil. A new GreenlandPaddle is treated with a mixture of among other things virgin linseed oil and carnauba wax from the palm Copernica Cerifera.