John Fereira ) writes:

A quart of boiled linseed oil runs about $7. A quart of mazola corn oil is
about $5.

You'd go out and buy a quart of linseed oil to use a couple ounces on a
paddle sahft when you could just reach into your kitchen cupboard for a
couple ounces of cooking oil you already paid for? Chances are you'd
already have paint thinner on hand to thin out the linseed oil. If not,
you'd have to buy a quart of that too. That's the only reason I suggested
cooking oil.

You're correct that I haven't made or even used a Greenland kayak paddle.
The only kayak paddle I made has aluminum blades which didn't need any
finish and stand up better to wear than red cedar. I did refurbish an old
ash canoe paddle on which I epoxied the edges of the blade because I had
some epoxy on hand, varnished the blade with polyurethane because I had
some polyurethane varnish on hand (which I had purchased for 25 cents at a
garage sale), and oiled the shaft with linseed oil because I had some of
that and some paint thinner on hand. (You can buy linseeds, aka flax seed,
at a health food store and make your own linseed oil, and some day I might
try it to see if it's cheaper.) If you have to go out and buy all that
stuff retail just to finish one Greenalnd paddle it can more than double
the cost of the paddle considering a piece of red cedar doesn't cost much.
I have lots of red cedar on hand salvaged from the floorboards of a
backyard patio deck when I refloored it. I've cut up that red cear for
gunwales, chines, thwarts, a sprit and all kinds of things boaty. There's
nothing like making a paddle, or a whole boat, for free and I encourage
every paddle maker and boatbuilder to try it.

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