canoe maker

Paddle Hemp Oil

Lately, most of my paddles have been maintained in basic oil finish. I prefer the simplicity of oil, the feel, and the ease of doing touchups. Most oil finishes have chemical solvents to speed up the drying process...chemicals that are quite toxic and foul smelling.

I've been intrigued with a new product brought out by the good folks over at Badger Canoe Paddles, a hemp based finishing oil. A lengthy writeup on their blog sounded very convincing. And after seeing the gorgeous satiny smooth finish on some of their commercial paddles at a local outfitter, I decided to give the oil a try on the spruce bushcraft cree paddle recently painted and on the canoe pole made last summer. So far, I'm very happy with the product and it's now my finish of choice. Obviously, you pay a premium price for a specialty finishing oil like this but it's great for those who want to get away from nasty solvents and other chemicals.