I have a Mitchell OBWW (open-boat white water) paddle that I picked up at my local outfitters a few years back. It appears to have a metal tip at the end - not copper, but a whiter metal - maybe steel? The blade has a fiberglass sheath and everything was under the varnish (glass & metal tip). It's taken a beating on a couple river trips, so the varnish has been ground off (time to add a few coats!), revealing the metal underneath. The website currently mentions a polyurethane tip, not metal - maybe they switched from metal to synthetic after I bought this.