Awesome paddle but I'll say fragile. Nothing you can do about blade strikes except be careful of course but I've repaired some neck fractures. it appears the angled end of the shaft doesn't go into the neck of the blade far enough. So my advice is yes buy it, be careful and don't smash it around BUT don't stick it in with hot glue. That was fine with old stuff that had a long ferrule. These need the best epoxy you can find when assembling