Paddles and Backrest Refinishing

[Sandon Bate]

I have a 1918 Otca and with it I have some very long paddles (cedar I think) and two accordion style backrests and two folding seats with padding.


Should I oil and then varnish the paddles? Linseed oil?

I am thinking of using Decks Olje on the accordion backrest as I think varnish would just jam them up.

I would take any advice. Thank you.

 

[pklonowski]

Hi Sandy,

For the paddle, if you use linseed oil, use Boiled, not Raw, as it'll cure faster -- days instead of weeks.

If you want to varnish on top of it, you'll want to make sure you won't have any issues with the varnish adhering to the oil. Best way to do this is to get a piece of the same wood, sand it as you will the paddle (I usually finish with 220 grit, but that can vary...), then oil it, let that dry, scuff sand with 220, then varnish it.

Now comes the time-consuming part... wait to see if it starts peeling. Most folks probably just put the finishes on the paddles, and use them normally, and wait to see if peeling happens. If it does, you'll want to sand all the varnish off, and just stick with the oil.

Hope this helps! I'll let someone who knows more about antique canoe parts speak for the seat.

 

[Sandon Bate]

Paul,

Thank you. These paddles and backrest are old, going back to the 1920s and the wood is very dry, no rot, but very dry. Yes, if using linseed oil I would use boiled linseed as I have heard about raw never drying.

I guess I was really looking to hear opinions on boiled linseed versus Watco, versus Danish, versus Decks Olje.

By the way, Someday I will join one of your activities as I am up near Fox Lake IL

 

[pklonowski]

I knew you were around here somewhere, from PSC, but didn't realize we were practically neighbors... I'd be happy to take a look at them, if you like.

I don't know a lot about comparing different brands of oil finishes, unfortunately. Not sure, but many may have boiled linseed as a base, with some (possibly minor & irrelevant) differences in formulation, depending on brands. I've not used Deks yet. Hopefully somebody with more experience with these will chime in.

With any of them, though, you'll need to scuff sand & re-coat frequently, but I don't know if any hold up better between oilings than others.

I used to think that oiled paddles didn't give me blisters (as opposed to varnish), because once I started oiling them, I never got blisters anymore. What I overlooked was that at that time I also started shaping the grips & shafts to fit my hands better, which could easily have caused the change. Now I'm varnishing paddles that fit my hands, and as soon as my rotator cuff gets better, I'll find out whether well-fitted varnished paddles give me blisters.

So I'm no help whatsoever!