And I'm talking about an extensive refurbishing.

I bought a beat to hell, over neglected Silver Creek paddle for $20. Fiberglass partially peeled off the the blades, chunks of wood missing both in the face of the blades and around the edges, I really don't see how it could have been worse.

To date I have removed all the old varinsh, epxoy, fibergalss, and stain and I now have a bare wood paddle. I have some stainable wood putty that I am going to use to fill in the gouges and smooth out the edges. I'm planning on staining the wood, adding at least one layer of fiberglass to the blades, and then treating with polyurethane.

I think I'm good with the general plan, it's just the details that I don't really have. So I have some specific questions.

1) What weight of glass cloth is best to use? I have some 6 oz. cloth but that seems like it would be heavy for this application. Is a lighter weight cloth better?

2) I'm assuming that I should stain the wood first, then apply an epoxy and fiberglass layer to the blades, then poly coat. Will the fiberglass let the stain and different woods show through? I looks like it did on the original but if it is all going to look monochromatic I don't want to put a lot of work (or $$$) into staining.

3) What kind of epoxy and polyurethane should I use? I have searched and found a reference to Jimmy Snyder's site but I can't find that info on his site. It may be gone or it may just be that I can't find it. I remember reading a thread or webpage that went into graphic detail but now that I need it I can't find it for the life of me.

4) Is it possible, advisable, or feasible to change the feather? It's about a 60 degree feather right now, I'd like it a lot better if it were more like 30 degrees. I could lose about an inch and a half of length of the paddle in the process and it wouldn't hurt my feelings.

5) Dynel edging, where do you get it, how do you put it on? Or should I just glom a bunch of G-Flex on the edges and shave/sand to shape?

Any input is appreciated, hopefully I'll have sweet wooden paddle to show off this winter. Or at least a nice wall decoration.

Thanks