What Makes Our Rockgard® Protection So Effective?
4-minute read
Durability. Beauty. Performance.
All our wood canoe paddles have our proprietary Rockgard edge protection (Photo courtesy of @five2nine)
When designing our world-class canoe and kayak paddles, these three words are always front of mind. It’s what our customers value and what sets us apart.
That’s why, only at Bending Branches, you will find our proprietary technology called Rockgard® applied to each of our wood paddles.
Why Do Wood Canoe Paddles Need Extra Protection?
While beautiful, warm to the touch and lightweight, wood naturally can splinter and split over time and use. This is especially true when it’s exposed to the elements, like during long days of paddling.
The edge of your canoe paddle blade takes a lot of abuse. Normal wood paddles can begin to show wear and tear in the blades—especially the tips—within a year or two of constant use.
The answer?
Bending Branches' Rockgard® edge protection.
What Makes Rockgard® Special?
We derived this proprietary technology based on the material used in inline skate wheels. When applied to the edges of a canoe paddle blade, it maintains the integrity of the paddle, seals the wood against moisture, and protects the most vulnerable areas—the tip and edges.
Instead of showing wear after just a couple of seasons, Rockgard adds years to a paddle’s life, even in tough conditions.
Unlike the epoxy coating used on many wood paddles, Rockgard® doesn’t chip. It has natural elasticity, which results in more impact-resistant protection. It’s like having a shock absorber around the edges of your paddle.
(photo courtesy of Jason Schultz)
The Rockgard material bonds with the end grain of the wood and adds extra durability. It prevents the common situation with so many paddles of the varnish wearing off the tip, allowing water to enter the wood and begin the shrink-swell pattern that soon weakens the blade.
Canoe Paddles with Rockgard® Last 6X Longer
Based on our tests, we’ve found that wood canoe paddles with Rockgard® protection last six times longer than those without. That’s a big difference!
So whether maneuvering through rocky river water or pushing off to keep you moving, our Rockgard®-protected paddles are up to the challenge.
The video below is a few years old, but still up-to-date about Rockgard. Watch it to hear more about this industry-leading technology:
Which Bending Branches Wood Canoe Paddles Have Rockgard®?
All of them! As well as our wood kayak paddles.
We apply Rockgard edge protection to every wood paddle, no matter its price point.
Our most affordable wood paddles have Rockgard® along the tip of the blade, the area most likely to see contact with dirt, sand, gravel and other abrasives. These include the Beavertail, Traveler, Loon and even our kids’ paddles, the Twig.
Our mid-range wood paddles get more Rockgard, since these are likely to see more use over longer periods of time and more varied conditions. Most in this collection have this protection around the entire blade edge.
The Arrow and BB Special get the edge protection on the tip and up the sides, another couple of inches. The rest of the paddles in this group have Rockgard® around almost the entire edge of the blade to within a couple of inches of the shaft.
These include Explorer Plus, Cruiser Plus 11, Catalyst, Java ST and 11 and Viper.
Our toughest wilderness wood paddle, the Expedition Plus, is also part of this group. It gets Rockgard® around the entire edge of the blade, plus six inches up the shaft. That’s one tough paddle!
Our high-end carbon paddles are designed for ultimate lightweight, but they also have that same tough edge protection. The Sunburst ST and 11 have a carbon shaft with a beautifully designed wood blade. The blade gets Rockgard® most of the way around.
Our Black Pearl ST and 11 are 100% carbon. In place of Rockgard, these have what we call our Edgegard protection, a nylon weave that seals and protects the carbon fiber.
Our Wood Kayak Paddles Have Rockgard® Too
We handcraft three wood kayak paddle models in our Wisconsin headquarters, as well as our line of wood canoe paddles.
Our Angler Navigator gets Rockgard around most of the blades (photo courtesy of @kboutdoors)
Two of these are for recreational kayakers: The Navigator with two different ferrule options (snap-button and Versa-LokTM) and the Impression. The Impression has Rockgard around the tip of the blades, while the Navigator models have this protection along the lower half of the blade as well.
The third wood kayak paddle is designed specifically for kayak fishing, our Angler Navigator. Like its recreational version, this high-end paddle has Rockgard around the tip and lower half of the blade, the areas most likely to come into contact with abrasives. It’s also available in both snap-button and Versa-LokTM ferrule systems (the Versa-Lok allows for up to 15 cm of length adjustability).
(Photo courtesy of Caleb Young)
You can be sure that no matter which Bending Branches wood canoe paddle you choose, its Rockgard protection will extend your paddle’s life for many years to come. We think that makes our wood paddles a darn good investment.
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.
More for you...
