I have Sawyer composite oars with wooden blades, NOT MXG's. I can tell you that you can abuse the living daylights of the oar and push/pull yourself off of rocks just fine. The Ash oar tapers from 1 5/8" at the shaft to about 3/4" at the tip and is strong as an ox. I sat on my oar blade after repairing just to make sure it would take the abuse and a repaired oar blade could withstand 250lbs held tight at the point the oar blade enters the shaft so new ones should hold as well or better. I can tell you that there is a disadvantage to wooden oar blades though. They will require upkeep. Every so often you will need to strip and refinish or you'll wind up with dryrot. I'd got with the composite blades if I was starting fresh.