Paddle Project - Step 5

Ah... final finishing,  started by sanding everything down with 80 grit sandpaper, then moved to 150 grit and then final sanding with 220 grit.  In between each step, I watered down the paddle to raise the grain out of the wood, then let dry before then next sanding.  I used a combination of a palm sander and sanding by hand,  I have the Black and Decker Mouse which has a curved attachment and that made smoothing out the rounded surfaces much easier,  easily done by hand though, sander just makes it quicker.

Once that was completed I used steel wool to polish up for the last step.  I didn't put any fancy tips on the paddle or epoxy, just finished oh natural,  using Tung oil, I brushed down the entire paddle and let dry for 24 hours,  did 3 coats of this and voila... done. 

I haven't tried the paddle yet and while far from perfect, it was not a bad first attempt,  quite proud of it actually, certainly learned a lot and will do things differently on the second one for sure, highly recommend this project to people who just want to try it out, was quite fun.  Plus I now have all the tools.   Next one might be a laminated kayak paddle or just a regular canoe paddle.

Here is a picture of the finished paddle.