Ed,

You shouldn't have any problems. For my Greenland paddles, I use white pine and aspen. I used a 2-part waterproof glue to laminate the wood together, and coated the finished paddle with Minwax Helmsman polyurethane. Some might think varnish would look better, but I don't get runs with polyurethane, and it does contain UV filters.

The first paddle is two years old, and so far I've had no problems with delamination or breakage. I am considering using cedar on my next paddle, mostly for the look. Pine and aspen do not make for exciting color contrasts.

Ken