Protecting wooden oars

Kelpie

Kelpie

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I have a pair of antique oars, not sure exactly which type of wood but it's something very light and clear-grained. There's some damage to the wood just past the collars, and now that I'm using them on a different boat I want to move the collars along, which will put them on top of the damage.
What's the best thing to protect the wood before sliding the collars down? I have epoxy and a couple of different flavours of varnish. I'm worried about trapping moisture in under the collar so maybe I shouldn't bother putting anything on the wood at all??
 
Kelpie said:
I have a pair of antique oars, not sure exactly which type of wood but it's something very light and clear-grained. There's some damage to the wood just past the collars, and now that I'm using them on a different boat I want to move the collars along, which will put them on top of the damage.
What's the best thing to protect the wood before sliding the collars down? I have epoxy and a couple of different flavours of varnish. I'm worried about trapping moisture in under the collar so maybe I shouldn't bother putting anything on the wood at all??
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I used handlebar tape on steel rowlocks, with wooden oars with no collars. Depends how much rowing you do, for how often you change the tape. Electrical tape also worked.
 
Leather is the proper thing surely?
But any fabric would work to a degree.
Years ago I broke an oar which had rotted where the leather was held on with tacks. So I'd glue on whatever I used!

I've got some mega adhesive lined heatshrink but I bet it would squeak when rowing? And it would be a sod to remove!
 
I might not have explained myself very well- I'm going to reuse the existing collars, just slide them down a bit. And I want to protect the damaged wood in that area first.
 
I would use a traditional varnish - not epoxy or polyurethane. You want something protective, but breathable. I have done a similar job, the leathers only need tacks down the overlap, going around the ends puts a weak spot in the oars. You can't see the old tack holes when you're rowing because they are around the other side of the oar!
 
The wood is very probably Douglas fir. If all else fails, you could try cutting out the damaged bits and glueing back some new wood before varnishing and then replacing the collars. The very best Sitka Spruce could also be used, but it's usually not got fine enough grain and is too resinous to be that good for repairing blades. I know this from my time as 'Equipment Officer' at a rowing club in the days of wooden cleavers when lots of blades got damaged during the bumps and I had to repair them.
 
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May be OT but, as Wing Mark said, please don't use tacks. Even copper ones make the wood rot with time (don't ask why I know).
Leather can be stitched along the seam.
 
I'm not using tacks... and I'm not using leathers... I am reusing the rubber/plastic collars, just moving them along a bit. But I want to protect the slightly damaged wood which will be covered by the collars. Looks like varnish is the way to go, no need to overthink this...
 
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