Beauty and protection, cut from the same cloth
There is a moment at the end of a long row when you lift your oars clear of the water and take stock of what's in your hands. The handles are smooth, the leather supple, the blade finely shaped. A well-loved oar earns a beautiful patina, from handle to blade end.
The tip of a spoon blade takes the most punishment of any part of the oar. Every missed catch, brushed gunnel, and rocky shoreline landing concentrates force at that narrow leading edge. Without reinforcement, even the finest blade can split or check over time, shortening the life of an oar that was built to last a lifetime. Patina is one thing, split blades are another!
Shaw & Tenney spoon blade oars are available with optional inlaid hardwood tips hand-fitted to the blade end. Cut from solid cherry, mahogany, or walnut, and set flush into the blade, they are a small addition with an outsized effect in terms of both durability and good looks.
Protection Where it Counts
Inlaid tips address the vulnerability of the blade end directly. The dense hardwoods are inherently more resistant to impact and abrasion than the spruce used for light spoon blade oars. A hardwood tip acts as an armor plate for the most vulnerable point of the blade, absorbing glancing blows, resisting splitting, and keeping the edge clean and true through years of regular use.
The construction detail that makes the real difference is this: the grain of the hardwood tip runs perpendicular to the grain of the oar blade. This is not incidental, it is intentional joinery. Wood splits along its grain, and by orienting the inlaid tip across the oar's grain, the two pieces effectively lock each other in place. The result is a blade that is, in practical terms, nearly guaranteed not to split at the tip. Cross-grain construction resists failure in a way that no finish or coating alone ever could.
Beauty and the Beast
The contrast of a dark walnut or rich cherry tip against the lighter grain of a spruce blade is the kind of visual detail that separates the wheat from the chaff. It signals intent. It says these oars were thought through, not simply ordered.
Whether your boat is a classic Whitehall, a traditional rowing skiff, or a canoe rigged for oars, inlaid tips lend a finished, considered quality to the whole rig. Set your oars in the locks and people will notice. Not because the tips shout for attention, but because the oar looks complete.
Choose your Wood
Many of our customers match their inlaid tips to their boat's interior trim for a fully coordinated look. Others choose purely for grain and tone. Here is a quick guide:
Cherry: a deep red, closed-grained hardwood. Strong, durable, and strikingly beautiful. One of our most popular choices for spoon blade tips.
Mahogany: the natural choice when your boat is trimmed in mahogany. An imported hardwood well suited to the demands of blade tips and long days on the water.
Walnut: a deep chocolate brown with beautiful grain. Nearly as strong as cherry, with a warmth that pairs beautifully with varnished ash or spruce.
An Investment that Lasts
Shaw and Tenney oars are made to be used for decades. Every oar that leaves our shop in Orono is handcrafted to order. They are shaped, balanced, leathered, and finished by the same craftsmen who have been doing this work for years. An inlaid tip is a small addition to a significant investment, and one that pays dividends the older the oar gets.
If you are already ordering a pair of spoon oars, adding inlaid tips is the single easiest upgrade you can make. If you are replacing a set that has seen better days, consider it essential. The oars you row with say something about how you approach your time on the water. Make them say exactly what you mean.
