Edge Protection Adds Value to Your Paddles
8-minute read
Canoe and kayak paddles with dependable edge protection around the blades are more durable and last longer than paddles without. Bending Branches uses three different types of edge protection. Let’s explore them…
These canoe paddles by Bending Branches all have edge protection around the blade (photo: Tyson Crockett)
Rockgard® Edge Protection for Our Wood Paddles
We developed our proprietary Rockgard® in the early days of our company. It’s one of the technologies that set us apart then, and continues to give our wood paddles an advantage in the industry today.
Wood paddles are beloved by many canoeists because of the tradition of wood, its light weight, its beauty, and the warmth of wood on our hands. But continual contact with gravel, sand, rocks and other abrasives can wear away the blades pretty quickly.
All of our wood canoe paddle blades are protected with Rockgard®. Some, like the Arrow and BB Special, have this material along the blade tip and a few inches up each side. Others, like the Explorer Plus and Java, have that edge protection all along the blade edges, almost to the shaft.
On our toughest wood paddle, the Expedition Plus, Rockgard is applied around the entire blade and six inches up the shaft.
It’s easy to see the Rockgard around the blade of this Expedition Plus (photo: Tyson Crockett)
Rockgard does several things for your wood paddle:
- It seals the wood against moisture along the most vulnerable areas—the tip and edges.
- It acts like a shock absorber due to its natural elasticity.
- It bonds with the end grain of the wood and adds years of extra durability. In fact, our tests show that wood canoe paddles with Rockgard protection last six times longer than those without.
We also apply Rockgard edge protection to our wood kayak paddles: the Impression and Navigator recreational/touring paddles and the Angler Navigator kayak fishing paddle.
Edgegard Edge Protection for Our Carbon Canoe Paddles
When we developed our premier canoe paddle, the Black Pearl, in 2018, we gave it a similar type of edge protection, but one we could pair with its all-carbon blade. We call it Edgegard.
Edgegard is a nylon weave we place around the blade’s most vulnerable area, the tip. It seals the foam core carbon around the edges and prolongs the life of the paddle without adding extra weight. In fact, the Black Pearl is just 16 ounces—feather light for a canoe paddle.
It’s the perfect solution to add durability to this carbon paddle that’s designed for long-distance flatwater trips.
Lam-Lok™ Edge Protection for Our High-End Composite Paddles
Lam-Lok™ is a new technology we developed initially for a line of premium whitewater kayak paddles for our sister company, Aqua Bound. We rolled it out to testers in 2023 and to the world in 2024, and it’s been received with enthusiasm.
It’s been so well-received, in fact, that we’re now applying it to some of our high-end composite paddles:
- Horizon canoe paddle
- Angler Pro in the new-for-2026 Bruiser color
- Angler Pro Carbon
So what IS Lam-Lok™?
Our nickname for lamination lock, this patent-pending technology uses aramid thread as the barrier along the blade’s most vulnerable areas.
Aramid is the material used in building canoes (one of the aramid brand names you’ll recognize is Kevlar®), bulletproof vests, aeronautic materials and other applications where lightweight meets strength.
We stitch about 15 feet of aramid thread back and forth along each blade’s edge. In our in-house testing, we found that Lam-Lok™ offers at least five times the durability over blades without it.
The aramid stitching is easy to see along the blades (photo: Cameron Smith)
The stitching keeps the layers of the blade fused tightly together, accomplishing two important tasks:
- It doesn’t allow water to creep in and cause delamination over time.
- It becomes the stopping point to chipping and wearing due to repeated contact with abrasives like rocks, sand and gravel.
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Your paddle can be a joy to use for decades when you invest in one that’s built to last. Having quality edge protection goes a long way in offering that durability.
What paddling questions can our friendly Customer Service team help you with? Contact us at 715-755-3405 or bbinfo@bendingbranches.com, or choose our online chat option.
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