Hey Folks - as we begin to thaw, I'm going over gear. Last year for my family, I made six paddles over the winter, mine last. Towards the end of my 16 day father/son trip, I heard and felt a "crack!" in my beloved paddle - but couldn't find the issue. Well, it looks like there is a hairline crack through the middle core, made of mahogany. Laminated on either side is ash, which is pretty thin, but I'm sure holding it all together. The hairline crack does not seem to run all the way through, but there is a second crack on the opposite side, about two inches higher.
My thought is, maybe I could remove 6" of the core, carefully (drill bits and then small chisel?), clean it up, and then replace it with some more ash, maple, or aspen...what I have laying around in that exact thickness. Set it in there with gorilla glue, shape it all back down again. My DAD wonders if I could wedge out a piece of wood but not go all the way through, fill the missing wedge with epoxy or something, he thinks cutting out a piece will only yield two weak spots. My SON thinks I should just make a new paddle, "since you're so good at it now". Jerk.

Which generation is the wisest, in this instance? Lol. Hoping to not spend two weeks on another paddle...but maybe I need the outside laminates to be thicker, or a different core material.
Any advice is much appreciated.

I’d just make a new paddle if it were me- that’s more fun anyway!

If I HAD to repair it... I’d cut it in half at a high angle with a chopsaw. Then drill out a 1/2 inch (3/4 if you can manage) on both side up into the shaft a little ways and insert a dowel to hold the two pieces together- and use color matched thickened epoxy. The high angle should hide the seam a bit and give more surface area for the epoxy- though that’s probably not needed due to the dowel.

It’s hard to tell from the pics but if the crack doesn’t look that deep. I would run it through a table saw perpendicular to the crack until you had removed as much of the shaft as needed and then epoxy in a new piece of wood. Sand and finish.

If you were concerned about how it looked you could do it on 2 sides or 4 sides. 1 side at a time.

Matti

Grizzlyman: "I’d just make a new paddle if it were me- that’s more fun anyway!


If I HAD to repair it... I’d cut it in half at a high angle with a chopsaw. Then drill out a 1/2 inch (3/4 if you can manage) on both side up into the shaft a little ways and insert a dowel to hold the two pieces together- and use color matched thickened epoxy. The high angle should hide the seam a bit and give more surface area for the epoxy- though that’s probably not needed due to the dowel. "

YIKES. The idea of cutting it in half is very intimidating...hmm...

Matti: "It’s hard to tell from the pics but if the crack doesn’t look that deep. I would run it through a table saw perpendicular to the crack until you had removed as much of the shaft as needed and then epoxy in a new piece of wood. Sand and finish.


If you were concerned about how it looked you could do it on 2 sides or 4 sides. 1 side at a time.


Matti"

I was thinking along those lines as well...since the crack runs all the way across the mahogany, I was orginally thinking of using a router. But if I removed the entire section and replaced, I could fit it with wood that is the exact same thickness. But if I crack that ash...nothing worse than ash crack.

I'm going to have to agree with your son.

I wouldn't think that a repair could be any stronger than the original, and it cracked during normal use. Might be some flaws in the wood?

I'd make a new one for tripping. There's a few weeks of winter left with nothing better to do anyway. ;) The new one should be even better than the last.

Build a new one AND fix the cracked one as an experiment. Don't take the experiment anywhere breaking would cause inconvenience, but use it for day trips with a spare on hand. Or, just stress test it until it breaks an see what happens.

I think it's going to break. I'd run int length wise down the table saw, two cuts to completely remove that piece of ash. Replace the piece of ash and refinish.

I would not be comfortable without entire replacement of that ash spine. If it doesn't work...like your kids said, you can always build a new one.

Just retire it to the wall and think about the fun you had when you look at it. I would not want it to fail on you when you needed it on a trip.

I would fill it with epoxy. Try the UV product where you cure it with a UV light. I hate to say this, but if you already have a crack or two, you are likely going to get more. Are you selecting your species of wood for its' looks or it's physical strength properties? Make sure you have woods that all expand and contract at the same rates. I just recently made a cutting board for a Christmas gift with an extensive and very detailed basket weave pattern. No pieces were longer than 4.5". As it sat in my house "curing" for 2 weeks, 6 of the 1.5" long pieces of wood cracked in the center of the board. This was with no use and carefully selecting each piece of would that I used from $200 worth of lumber that I selected for the project. Woodworking is more frustrating than golf.

You might try a butterfly patch, they're common in tabletops etc. that split.
It's a useful skill to pick up regardless. You can cut the butterfly recess with a router using a template and guide bushing, freehand it with a router, or use a chisel. Here's a link to help describe the process. butterfly patch

Why not wrap that section with fiberglass and epoxy?

I just relooked at your picture. It appears that you built it with the wood grain running the wrong way. As you put paddle pressure on the handle this is going to happen. I made an ash and cedar paddle. In the handle shaft part I ran two pieces glued together with the grain of the wood running against the way of paddling. This is the strongest way in my opinion to make a paddle shaft.

Cracks in wood perpendicular to the grain are never good, and difficult to effectively repair. I don't think regluing, or epoxying the cracks will really help much--adhesives have very little strength when applied to end-grain, which is basically what you have in this case. Being an old guy, I'll grudgingly have to side with the 'jerk' in this instance and say build another paddle. I believe the strongest paddle shaft would be the result of orienting the edge grain towards the front/back, and the face grain towards the sides. If you ever played baseball with a wooden bat you always placed the brand of the bat up so you were striking the ball with the edge grain, hit the ball with the face grain and you generally broke your bat.

It’s pretty cut and dry for me, and I basically make my living making things....... hang her on the way and get building a new one.

Your son is the wise one. Make a new paddle.

Mahogany is not a good choice of wood for the shaft. Mahogany is rather brittle and splinters thus the reason it cracked. Make a new paddle.

Western red cedar is a good dark wood. White cedar is amazing and light in color. Black ash is a great wood for paddles since it is a hard wood and extremely flexible (snow shoes, dog sleds) Using them in combination gives you a light, strong, and flexible paddle.

Tom

Seeing as we're talking about 3 individuals, this is hardly a "generational disagreement".

This is probably blasphemy here for any woodworker, but I fashioned a kayak paddle along the lines of an eskimo paddle (to go with my aleutian-style hand-built canvas kayak) out of white pine, seven feet long and on the first paddle, I could sense and hear the stress it was under. Not having a lot of time before I planned on using it on a solo Bwca trip, I opted to fiberglass the middle shaft and sanded smooth enough to not be noticeable, and I also coated the tips with epoxy. Problem solved-aesthetics be damned! I believe I brought along a small wood canoe paddle as a backup.

I'd probably make a Dutchman repair and set with thickened epoxy. Then I'd sand it down flush and varnish. It would probably hold, but if you have the time and materials, why not make a new paddle? Maybe use ash and western red cedar: those are the woods I use when I made my paddles and strip canoe.

I agree with making a new paddle. That is not an easy repair.