repair a broken paddle

Erik, Belgium · Post by **Erik, Belgium** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:50 pm

I received 2 paddles to repair from a friend last weekend. The shaft of one of those paddles is broken in the middle. I see two ways to repair it:

1) cut of the sides of the blades and grip, and glue them onto a new shaft. Followed by some hours of shaping.
2) Take away two narrow sides of the shaft both left and right, above and below the break, and glue in new pieces of wood on the sides. This way a part of the original broken shaft is left in the middle.

What would be the best and easiest way ?

Erik, Belgium.

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:43 pm

Erik, both methods you mentioned can be used. The second is the one I would try. If I read it correctly you mean something like this:

Good luck,
Bud

sedges · Post by **sedges** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:46 am

Broken shafts are hard to repair well. Laminating repair on to sides will make the paddle have a stiff spot in a normally flexiible shaft.. Your first solution would be a better repair. IMHO if you have the skills to do either of these repairs, you can build a new one. If this is someones dearest paddle, you can copy the design and dimensions.

This reminds me of the old story about the axe. " yes, I've had this axe for 60 years. I've replaced the handle a dozen times and the head twice".