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Building a Birch Bark Canoe Photo Documentary

Birch bark canoe
Birch bark canoe
Birch bark canoe
Randy tells us what is involved and we make a plan
Felling the tree
Cutting the notch
Measuring the tree for the longest canoe part
Bucking up the tree
Hauling logs to the building site
Hoisting logs onto the sawing frame
Making boards with a pit saw
Splitting out rib blanks
Shaving lots of ribs
Making even more ribs
Storing ribs in water to keep them from drying out
Randy saws out slats or sheathing
Making big boards into smaller boards
Surfacing slats or sheathing
Randy stokes the fire under the steamer
Ribs come out of the steamer
Randy bends the first rib
Bending ribs around the form
Beautifully bent ribs
Making the bottom frame
Measuring ribs off the bottom frame
Setting building frame stakes and morticing inwales
Finishing the gunwales
Bending the tips of the gunwales
Weighing down the gunwales in prep for drying
Sawing out blanks for stem and stern pieces
Walking around with a ladder looking for the perfect tree
Climbing up to make the cut
Bark begins to come away
Bark almost free
Carefully pass it down
A beautiful piece of bark
Roll it up
Tie it up
Gunwales come out of the bending form
Gunwales bottom frame layed out with stakes
Selecting ribs
Ribs labeled and ready to go
Bark selected and layed out with bottom frame
Weighing down the bottom frame
Green birch logs for additional weight
Notch inwales for ribs
Pull up bark and cut in gores
Pull up bark and put in stakes
Putting in the inwales
Putting in the thwarts
Canoe ready for upper panels
Slip in top panels
Canoe ready for outwales
Strip & split spruce root
Splitting spruce root
Peeled split root soaking
Lashing gunwales with spruce root
Lashed gunwale
Thwart lashed to gunwale
Melting spruce pitch
Strained out bark branches
Melted down animal fat is mixed in
Fitted stem & stern pieces
Sewed stem & stern
Stem sewing complete
Completed sewing from top
Turned over canoe
Sewing the bottom
Putting in some sheathing ribs
Ready for more ribs
Putting in the last of the sheathing ribs
All the ribs are in, bark is fully stretched
Turning it over and checking the results
Heating up the caulking
Caulking the seams
Caulking the seams
Caulking the seams
Ready for launching
The builders
Elias is the first to try it out
Lauri loves it!
Jim heads to St. Mary's

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  • HOME
  • CLASSES
    • Upcoming Classes
    • Calendar
    • Instructors
    • Become an Instructor
      • Propose a Class Idea
      • Complete Class Proposal Form
      • Teaching Details
    • Class Policies
    • Scholarships
  • PROGRAMS
    • Week in the Woods
    • Woodworking Programs
      • Open Shop
      • Woodworking for Kids
    • Weekend on the River
    • Boatwright Series
    • Wood Fest
    • OneTree
  • ABOUT US
    • Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Supporters
      • Sponsors
      • Partners
    • Vision and Planning
    • Anti-Discrimination Statement
    • The Folk School in the Media
    • The Folk School Library
    • Visitor Information
    • Contact Us
  • SUPPORT
    • Donate to The Folk School
    • Volunteer
    • Affiliate Programs
      • Fred Meyer Rewards
      • Amazon Smile
      • Office Depot
      • Thrivent Choice
    • Review Us on Trip Advisor!
  • STORE
  • PHOTOS