: So what are folks' opinions - is it better to laminate hardwood strips on the
: face sides of the paddle blank, or right up the center? Preference of
: wood?

Here's a picture of a Betsie Bay Kayak paddle. The blades are made of softwoods, as is the core of the shaft. The front and back of the shaft is of hardwood which runs out about 2/5 of the way out the blade. I'm not sure of the exact wood species that they use.

The paddle blades don't see a whole lot of bending stresses at the ends, so hardwoods aren't necessary out there. BBK coats the ends in white epoxy for durability and to simulate the ivory tip of some of the traditional Greenland paddles.

An idea I haven't tried yet is to make a laminated paddle of softwoods and Kevlar. I'd make the shaft out of 5 layers of wood, with strips of Kevlar in between each. I think that Kevlar would be better than carbon fiber or fiberglass because I don't think it would fail quite as catastrophically. With carbon fiber and fiberglass, you get to a point where you've passed the ultimate load and it fails with a snap. Kevlar is more ductile, so I don't think it would fail quite that abruptly. I need to test that theory out, though. I think a Kevlar paddle could be designed to have a nice 'springy' but solid feel to it.

I know that Kevlar fuzzes up when sanded, but what about when planed? I guess I could see a problem if the Kevlar is protruding from the lamination and would need to be planed/sanded off. I might have to use thin strips that don't protrude from the lamination.

Dean