mine are now bare wood
Posted by: harlingford
on Mar-05-13 7:00 PM (EST)
I have two paddles made by Don Beale, solid WRC. One is about 8 years old and still in great shape. It was originally coated with tung oil but it's been bare wood for at least the last 6 yrs. I take it on every paddling trip but mostly as a spare because I usually use a carbon fiber version that I slightly prefer for the extra buoyancy. The wood paddle is faded from the sun and sea, but the bare wood seems perfectly fine and handles as comfortably as it ever did. I like the feel.