help with staining a kayak paddle

[purplepaddle]

Hi all,

I have a beautiful Greenland Paddle, that I would like to stain purple. The catch is... I don't want to put a hard finish on the paddle so that when it takes it lumps, I don't get water trapped under the finish.

I want to stain the paddle purple and then use tung oil to finish it...

Does anyone know how I could do this and not have my hands turn purple every time I use it?

Thanks All!

: )

[rwatson]

Boil it in a Potassium Permanganate solution for 20 minutes - the stuff comes in any small chemistry set.

Let it dry well before applying Tung Oil

We do dozens every year like this. Its weird how many kyakers want purple wooden padlles, must be a fad.

[purplepaddle]

Thanks rwatson!

Um... if you mean boil the paddle... where do you get a 7ft long pot?

Seriously though, to clarify... boil the dye before applying... or do you really mean boil the paddle?

Truly inexperienced here...

: D

Truth be told I want to do purple and yellow...no, I am not an ECU pirates fan, I just like those colors... I plan on dyeing yellow and then masking with Elmers and over dyeing purple... I still need to test that to make sure I don't get brown!

: )

[rwatson]

Blimey - you *are* serious. I thought it was all a bit of a wind up.

yes - to thoroughly stain the wood, boil the whole paddle. You dont need a seven foot pot, just a seven foot bit of metal down pipe. You wont be able to do yellow over it, unless you paint it, which makes the tung oil redundant.

I was pulling your leg when I said we do a lot of paddles. The only way I know about colouring wood is from wooden spoons left in boiling pots of chemical goo as a kid. It soaked right in - permamently! The other very effective wood purple colouring element is iodine crystals, or mercurichrome (used on cuts and abrasions)

I spose you will admit you also want green polka dots once you figure out how to get a two toned paddle - you crazy hippy you!

[Crag Cay]

Before you boil any paddle, I would check what it's glued with!

Epoxy isn't boil proof - one of the reasons you don't get epoxy glued plywood. They make it in Zimbabwe and it's superb, but it fails the boil test and hence can't be called WPBP and therefore can't be called 'marine' either. Another example where 'standards' conspire to keep down standards.

[ancient kayaker]

When I used Potassium Permanganate the solution was a beautiful purple until I put it on the (beech) wood then it changed (oxidized?) to a nice brown, which was what I wanted. I was trying to fake the look of mahogany I think, it was a long time ago. Anyhow it looked great but it wasn't purple. It was irreversible however, so you may want to run a test on some scrap.

[Petros]

Stain is just wimpy paint. You can make your own with artist pigments (pure powder type) and just mix it in with your tong oil. Well equipped Art supply stores sell it, or you can order it from Daniel Smith art supply.

You can also just buy a tube of oil paint in the color you want from any art supply store, and mix it in with your oil. To get it to soak in deep, mix the first coat or two with turpentine.

The tong oil will breath just fine, even better if it is thinned down. Boiled linseed oil will also work and be more durable. It will also not be as dark as tong oil. You might consider adding some japan dryer to speed the cure.

Both of these will make a good finish, both will breath, and neither will be shinny, but rather dull and flat. Which will help your grip on the paddle.

Good luck.