How to care for your wooden paddle

If you have purchased a wooden paddle from Bending Branches, it may be good to know how to care for it.

Normally, no special treatment is needed except that you protect it from the elements when you are not using it and during transport.

If the surface becomes scratched or worn, do this: Sand with fine sandpaper (400). Use a block to make the sanding extra fine. Afterwards, varnish with polyurethane varnish for outdoor or marine use. Apply 2-3 coats and sand lightly between coats.

If the scratches are deeper, you will need to sand harder. Use a coarser sandpaper (100-120) on the damaged area. Then varnish 3-4 times so that the surface is smooth and nice.

NOTE!
On brand new paddles you will see more or less grinding marks on the blade tips. This is not a fault in the form of transport damage or the like. During manufacturing, the “paint drop” is ground off. It occurs when the paddle is dipped in paint 4 times.
If you still want to fix this in a simple way, you can wet sand with fine paper (1200) and then roughen the surface with, for example, Autosol.