After reading an account by somebody who put a nice gash in their hand by having
the paddle blade ripped out of their hands while holding same it seems like it
would be a good idea to soften those edges.

My guess is that they're hard more because it would cost money for the maker to
sand them than for any other reason. In fact, my wing paddle looks like they
softened the edges on some parts of the paddle.

Can anybody venture a reason not to do this?
--
PeteCresswell

(PeteCresswell) wrote:

Can anybody venture a reason not to do this?

The sharpness of the edge might affect the flow of water over the edge and the
flutter to some extent (wing won't flutter, though). It may not be enough to
feel with anything other than a fancy test rig. If it's not your prime racing
paddle, sand away - better to be safe. Otherwise, contact the manufacturer.

Mike

Michael Daly wrote:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:

Can anybody venture a reason not to do this?

The sharpness of the edge might affect the flow of water over the edge
and the flutter to some extent (wing won't flutter, though). It may not
be enough to feel with anything other than a fancy test rig. If it's
not your prime racing paddle, sand away - better to be safe. Otherwise,
contact the manufacturer.

Rounding the edges of a typical thin fiberglass or CF blade would
IMPROVE the water flow characteristics, if anything. After getting cut
myself once, I started doing it on all my Euro paddle blades. There were
no negative effects and I never got cut again.