Cedar: The Essence of the Wood-Canvas Canoe

“Do I have to use Eastern White Cedar to repair my wood-canvas Canoe?” The short answer is “No”.

Without a doubt, White Cedar is the best wood for canoe construction.  It is light, strong and bends beautifully when soaked and steamed.  Brass canoe tacks that are driven into it to hold planking to ribs don’t split the wood.  When it comes time for the canoe restorer to remove tacks from 40-year-old cedar, very little damage results from the process.

By comparison, Red Cedar is more prone to splitting when canoe tacks are driven into it and older Red Cedar planking breaks more easily when tacks are removed from it.  It steams and bends well – although not as well as White Cedar. 

For many wood-canvas canoes, White cedar was the only wood used to construct the hulls.  As the supply of good quality white cedar became harder to come by in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, many companies turned to the abundant supplies of Western Red Cedar for the planking of their canoes.  Bill Greenwood, who built canoes in Richmond, BC from 1934 to 1975, used Red Cedar exclusively for the planking in his canoes.

As a canoe restorer in British Columbia, I use Red Cedar exclusively for my repair work.  It is abundant, reasonably priced and I can get it custom milled locally.  I find it matches very well to the older wood in the rest of the hull.  I always have to stain new wood to darken it to match the original wood.  By the time I’m finished, I’m hard pressed to tell which ribs are the originals and which are the replacements.

I suppose I’m more of a pragmatic canoe rebuilder than a purist.  For me, the results are what matters.  What do you think?

 

 

 

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Song Lyrics – The Swine Flu Soiree

On CBC Radio, Dr. Brian Goldman refers to it as “Swinefeld – The Flu About Nothing”. http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat/2009/09/swinefeld_well_at_least_we_got.html

I was on a recent road trip listening to one of a seemingly endless stream of radio news reports about the H1N1 virus.  Immediately following the report, another program started with an old Newfoundland song – Kelligrew’s Soiree. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNABQtpG4OI&feature=PlayList&p=CF2F099B485AA565&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37

It didn’t take long before I started making up new lyrics for the old tune.  So, here is my Swine Flu Soiree:

Now, since the world economy has taken a decline, There isn’t much from day to day to give you peace of mind. But we in pharmaceuticals are standing up in line; To rake in all the money from the flu they call the swine.

 A public that is frightened is so easy to control. Say the word pandemic and you shiver to the soul. Now take a mild infection that is deadly to a few, The world believes it could become another Spanish Flu.

 We don’t care if you are feeling sick or feeling right as rain, If you don’t fall in line with us, we’ll treat you as insane. Even if the population is feeling fit and fine, For economic stimulus, the flu came just in time.

 We have special soap to keep you clean, sterile gowns and new vaccine. All backed up by research that no one has ever seen. We’ve got all our favourite doctors disinfected head to toe. We’ll treat you all as patients and then watch our profits grow.

 This latest bug that’s going round is such a nasty flu, The health administration has come up with something new. No need to fill the office, you can call us on the phone, Just tell us how you’re feeling and then leave us all alone.

 This handy little service is provided day and night, An easy diagnosis and who cares if it is right. No matter how you’re feeling, we will tell you that you’re ill; The major task in all of this is writing out the bill.

 Overzealous news reporting is a welcome thing to see. It’s massive advertising that they give away for free. We provide some speculation and some highly biased views; Which then become the facts behind the local evening news.

 We depend on mass hysteria to make the money flow, So boards of health and governments all make the panic grow. Who cares if the infection is just a hulla-balloo, We’re busy makin’ money from the H1N1 flu.

 The lyrics were written by Mike Elliott with assistance from Christy Luke.  Enjoy.

Painting Decorative Designs on a Wood-Canvas Canoe

Tom wanted a decorative design as the crowning touch to the restoration of his Huron canoe.  We exchanged thoughts and ideas back and forth for months.  At the end of one e-mail, he wrote, “It’s too bad you can’t put flames on a canoe.”  I replied, “Give me a minute.”

Decorative designs on canoes go back centuries to the native traditions of decorating birch bark canoes by scratching designs in the bark.

As canoeing became a fashionable recreation in the 1920’s, many canoe companies (primarily in the United States) offered a wide variety of designs which could be added to the canoe.  In Canada, canoes were seen as utilitarian vehicles, so decorative designs were less popular.  Most of the clients asking me to decorate their canoes have asked for designs based on those offered by Old Town Canoes in the 1920’s and 30’s.  No matter what the design is, the question remains, “How do you paint a design on a canoe?”

The first step is to figure out what you want to do.  I consulted with my friend Darren who does custom painting on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.  He came over to give me a crash course in flame designs.  After looking at the canoe, he concluded that flames wouldn’t fit the proportions of a canoe.  Then his eyes lit up and he asked, “What about scallops?”  We used a modified “1950’s Hot-Rod Scallops” design and got the go-ahead from Tom.

Once you have a design idea, the next step is to lay it out on the canoe.  I do this with a grease pencil which adheres to the enamel and yet can be removed easily with mineral spirits afterwards.  It is important to lay out the design evenly.  When I am doing a simple stripe, I use a home-made measuring jig that keeps a set distance between the gunwales and the stripe.  In the case of Tom’s canoe, the design was more free-wheeling, so I measured and marked out some key angles and proportions to follow.  I then drew the design in grease pencil free-hand.

Then, mask out the design with tape.  Since this design involves some tight curves, I started with 1/8” masking tape.  Specialized “striping tape” is available for laying out a stripe with a consistent width along the full length.  Once the line is laid down, you simply remove pre-cut sections of the tape to expose a line of the width you desire.  In this case, the line was more free-form, so I laid it out by eye producing some lovely tapered curves.

Once I was satisfied with the initial layout (which took a number of attempts to produce an even, pleasing design), the regions of the canoe which would not be painted were then fully masked.  I used progressively wider masking tapes – from ¼” to ¾”.

When the masking is complete, the grease pencil marks are removed with a little mineral spirits in a soft cloth.  While the paint thinner is allowed to dry (it only takes a few minutes), the paint can be mixed.  I use the same type of paint that is used for the body of the canoe – i.e. alkyd enamel thinned with a small amount of mineral spirits (seven or eight parts enamel to one part paint thinner).

I apply the paint with a small disposable brush.  The sponge brush spreads the paint smoothly and evenly.  I avoid using a lot of paint, yet I also want to get full coverage.  The thinner in the paint helps the paint spread out over the surface and “self-levels”.  Therefore, it is not necessary to fuss and bother over the paint.  Any streaks or bubbles disappear on their own a few minutes after the paint is applied.

Remove the tape one or two hours after the paint is applied.  Don’t leave the tape on too long.  To achieve an even line, it is important to clean up any bleeds that occurred along the tape line.  Take a small putty knife (1” or 1½” wide) and cover the edge with a cloth that has some mineral spirits in it.

Careful cleaning gives you a line that is sharp and even.  Allow the paint to dry for a few more hours before removing the grease pencil marks from the rest of the canoe.  A gentle wipe-down with a smooth cloth and a little mineral spirits produces clean results.

Tom refers to his canoe as the “WOW” canoe.  Indeed, when I put it on display in front of our house (located on the main street through the centre of town), it was literally stopping traffic.  Initial feedback in town has been quite divided.  It seems people either love it or hate it, So, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Installing New Inwales in a Chestnut Prospector Canoe

Dan and I looked at his Chestnut Prospector.  The previous owner had stored it for years on the floor of his garage – leaning up against a wall with the weight of the canoe resting on the gunwales on one side.

I told him that the only way to correct the warped gunwales is to replace both the inwales and outwales with new ash.  It turns out that Dan had grown up with this canoe.  One day, his father sold it without consulting the rest of the family.  About twenty years later, Dan happened to meet the man that bought their canoe.  Dan immediately bought it back and now wanted it to look the same as when he was a kid.

I told him, “It’s a big job.  I basically have to take the entire canoe apart and put it back together again.”  I then took him step by step through the process.  Dan looked at me and said, “Wow! That is a lot of work. Let’s do it.”

Once the canoe is uncovered – having removed the outwales, stem-bands and canvas – the first step is to mark the positions of the decks, seats and thwarts on the hull of the canoe.  To have any hope of re-installing these components correctly, their original positions have to be recorded on the canoe.

In order to have access to the rib-tops, all of the planking around the canoe at the sheer line has to be removed.  This is generally a fairly straightforward task involving a tack remover.  However in this case, I discovered that several coats of spar varnish applied over the years had essentially glued the planking to the ribs of the canoe.  Without removing all of the varnish first, the removal of the planking resulted in some unexpected breakage.

The ends of the canoe must be opened up completely.  This involves removing many of the planks at the end as well as the cant ribs and the decks.  While doing this, you’ll often discover that the stem-ends need to be repaired.  Indeed, in this case, I found that both stem-ends needed new ash scarfed into them.  This process has been described in a previous article: http://canoeguybc.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/wood-canvas-canoe-stem-end-repair-a-pictorial-guide/

Remove the thwarts and seats.  Start by securing the canoe in at least three places with ropes or ratcheting webbing straps.  These will maintain the shape of the canoe once the thwarts and seats are removed.  Then, spray the carriage bolts with WD-40 and let it do its thing for a few minutes.  This will facilitate the removal of the nuts.  Next, the components are removed.  This often requires some persuasion.  I use a solid piece of 2×4 birch that I have carved into a mallet.  A couple of sharp whacks will usually do the trick.  Then, the bolts come out of the inwales fairly easily.  However, sometimes they are corroded and fused into the wood.  But that’s another story.

At this point, reset the ropes or straps below the inwales in order to maintain the shape of the canoe.  Now, remove the inwales from the canoe.  They are normally attached to each rib-top with a couple of copper nails.  In the last few years of the life of the Chestnut Canoe Company, they used common nails to secure the inwales.  As a result, the fasteners often corroded thereby causing the inwales to separate from the ribs.  This probably happened to this canoe because we discovered that, during the previous rebuild, two small (#4 – ¾”) bronze wood screws were used to secure every rib-top to the inwales.  It took about ten hours to remove about 200 screws from the rib-tops (that’s about three minutes per screw).  It was fussy, pain-staking work because we didn’t want to do extra damage to the rib-tops.

Solidify the exposed rib-tops with an epoxy sealer or a wood hardener of some sort.  These products are very toxic, so make sure to wear a good mask.  The hardener usually has to cure overnight.

 

Fill any holes in the rib-tops with a two-part epoxy putty.  This stuff usually comes in a small roll.  Pinch off a small amount and mix the two-parts together by mashing the material in your hands for a couple of minutes.  Once the putty is a uniform colour, you have about an hour to work with it before it hardens.  Use a putty knife to work the putty into the wood.  Small areas of damaged wood can be replaced with putty.  If there is too much damage, the rib-top will have to be replaced.  This procedure is described in a previous article: http://canoeguybc.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/wood-canvas-canoe-rib-top-repairs-a-pictorial-guide/

Once the putty has hardened, sand the both the inside and outside surfaces of each rib-top to smooth them out.  I usually use an 80-grit sandpaper.  It is aggressive enough without running the risk of removing a lot of wood.

Cut the new inwales from new ash.  I am fortunate enough to have a local source for 16’ lengths of 4/4 ash lumber.  If you can’t get lumber in long lengths, you will have to scarf a couple of shorter lengths together to get the length you need.  Then you can cut the wood to the final dimensions of the inwale.  Chestnut and Peterborough inwales (in most models of canoe) are ¾” wide on the top surface, 7/8” on the bottom and 15/16” thick (from the top to the bottom of the inwale). The surface of the inwale where the rib-tops make contact is angled to conform to the tumblehome in the canoe hull.  This angle is eight degrees on the table saw and results in the desired dimensions on the top and bottom surfaces.

Install the new inwales.  Clamp the inwale in place at the centre of the canoe.  Make sure the top surface of the inwale is flush with the rib-top.  Drill a pilot hole with a 1/16” bit and secure the rib top to the inwale with 7/8” 14-gauge nails.  I use either copper canoe nails or bronze ring nails (whichever I happen to have on hand at the time).  A tack hammer and an auto-body dolly are used to drive the nails into place.

The sheer line of the Chestnut Prospector has a graceful, even curve as it rises along its length from the centre to the end of the canoe.  Therefore, it is not necessary to steam-bend a curve into the inwale prior to installation.  This is required in canoes such as the Chestnut Pal and adds a certain degree of complexity to the entire procedure.  However, we can now see the original shape of the canoe returning.

 

The final step is to install the decks in the canoe.  In this case, I was able to re-install one of the original decks.  The other deck had rot in the tip, so I made a new one from ash.  The procedure for installing the decks is described in a previous article: http://canoeguybc.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/wood-canvas-canoe-stem-end-repair-a-pictorial-guide/

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Maintaining a Wood-Canvas Canoe for Less than $100

For many people, their wood-canvas canoe still has the original canvas and is still in very good condition.  The question is: “How do I maintain my canoe without having to spend $1,000 on a new canvas?”

One such person was Jonathan Matlock.  He contacted me, asked a few questions and then set to work.  His canoe was in pretty typical condition.  The paint on the canvas was cracking and starting to flake off in places.  The interior looked good, yet needed fresh varnish.

He started on the canvas with 220-grit sandpaper and roughed up the entire surface of the canvas.  He paid extra attention to the areas that had cracked and flaked.  I use a random-orbital sander for this work, but Jonathan had to do it by hand since he didn’t want to invest in power tools right now.  It takes longer, but in this case time is cheap and gets the job done.

Next, he tackled the interior.  Power tools are useless here, so pick up the 220-grit sandpaper (and/or fine steel wool) and rough up every nook and cranny in the canoe’s interior.  Jonathan took the time (and extra expense) to remove the seats and thwarts.  Once he had them sanded and refinished, he re-installed them using new 3/16” silicon-bronze carriage bolts.  This step can be avoided if you wish.  However, it takes more time to work around all of the corners when the thwarts and seats are left in the canoe.

It is very rewarding to see the canvas transform with the application of new alkyd enamel. Here you can see the new paint on the right side and the left side about to be painted on top of the newly sanded surface.

Now, the entire canoe can be vacuumed, dusted and otherwise cleaned before new paint and varnish are applied.  Once cleaned, begin by refinishing the canvas.  The first step is to mask the outwales with masking tape.  Leave the under surface of the outwales exposed.  Then, take a quart (one liter) of alkyd enamel (Tremclad works very well) and thin it by mixing in ½ cup (about 125 ml) of paint thinner to the paint.  Apply the paint with a disposable foam brush and work in small sections as you work your way around the canoe.  Make sure, you have good coverage without spending a lot of time fussing over the paint.  Then, “tip” the paint by brushing the paint lightly and quickly first vertically and then horizontally.  Once the paint has been applied and tipped in two directions, leave it alone for two days.  About an hour after you finish applying paint to the entire canvas, remove the masking tape from the outwales.  Use paint thinner on a rag to remove any paint that has leeched on to the outwales.  If you want, you can apply a second coat of enamel to the canvas by repeating the process just described.  Before, working on the interior, let the new enamel dry for a couple of weeks to reduce the risk of scuffing the new paint.  Oil-based paints take a very long time to cure completely (over a year).  However, a couple of weeks drying time allows the paint to dry sufficiently to avoid scuffing the new surface every time you look at it.

When painting the exterior, the question comes up about what to do with the stem-bands.  In the original factory, they simply painted over the brass.  Jonathan took the time to remove, clean and re-install the original stem-bands with marine bedding compound.  Although it gives you very nice results, it is not entirely necessary.  If you want the brass to show – all bright and shiny – you can return to the canoe a day after applying the final coat of paint and use a utility blade to scrape the paint off the stem-bands.  This also removes the majority of the oxidization on the brass.

Once the paint has cured for a few days, the stem-bands can be buffed with extra-fine steel wool.  Any paint on the canvas next to the stem-bands can be touched-up with enamel to cover any scuffed areas.

 

 

Applying spar varnish on the interior is much the same as applying paint to the canvas.  Because of all the rough corners on the interior, I use a natural-bristle brush instead of a disposable to apply and tip the varnish.  Again, the big secret here is to thin the varnish before applying it.  If you want to apply a second coat, repeat the entire process two days after applying the first coat.  The cost of spar varnish can range from $20 a quart to over $50.  In this case, you get what you pay for.

Jonathan finished his project by applying new decals to his Chestnut Prospector.  These are available from Roger McGregor at Ivy Lea Shirt Company.  Tell him, Mike at Kettle River Canoes sent you. http://www.ivyleashirtco.com

Jonathan has every right to grin from ear to ear.  He spent about four months in evening and week-ends to refinish his canoe.  It looks as good as new and will keep the canvas functioning for a few more years.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

How to Assess the Restoration Required in a Wood-Canvas Canoe

I am often asked, “Is it possible to restore my canoe?  The short answer is, “Yes.”  The two questions that follow from that are: “How much will it cost?” and “How long will it take?”  The short answer for both of these questions is, “It depends on the extent of the work required.”

A number of years ago, a guy dropped his canoe off in my backyard.  He said, “It was fine until a tree fell on it.”  What he presented to me was half a 13’6” Huron canoe.  One side had been almost entirely destroyed and both decks were hanging by a thread.  He didn’t want the canoe anymore and wondered if I could “find a good home for it.”  I wrapped ropes and cargo straps around it to hold the shape and tucked it away in a corner of the shop.  A few years ago, a couple came to the shop looking to “adopt” a small canoe.  I was reluctant to even suggest the little Huron.  However, when I pulled it out, they fell in love with it and paid for the restoration.  It took over six months to restore and cost over $3500.  At current rates it would cost over $4500 to do the same work today.

In order to assess the extent of the repairs required in your canoe you will have to start by taking it apart – at least a little.  I start by, removing the screws that hold the outwales to the rest of the canoe.  Usually, I only have to remove the screws from the bow and stern ends.  This will expose the canvas under the outwales.  In most of the old canoe factories, the builders attached the outwales and stem-bands to the canoe before the canvas was filled and painted.  Consequently, the canvas under the outwales was raw and unprotected.   Water became trapped between the wood and the canvas thereby creating a perfect environment for mildew and rot.

The stem-ends of the canoe are the areas most susceptible to rot.  Water is easily trapped under the stem-band and canvas at the spot where the inwales, stem-end and deck come together.  In six years and about 100 canoes, I have found only one or two canoes that did not have rotted wood in this area.

In order to assess the extent of the damage, the top portion of the stem-band must be removed, the canvas must be peeled back and the planking attached to the top section of the stem must be removed to expose the top portion of the stem.  The result is a lot of work that involves taking substantial portions of the canoe apart.  However, it is the only way to determine the amount of rebuilding required.

In most Chestnut and Peterborough wood-canvas canoes, the inwales and outwales are constructed of two sections of ash jointed together in a scarf joint and secured with some kind of glue that is not entirely waterproof.  As a result, the scarf joints frequently let go.  This is not often a big deal and can be repaired fairly easily with newer waterproof glues (resorcinol or epoxy adhesives) and a number of spring clamps.  I prefer resorcinol glue because it sands very easily once dry.  The minor drawback of this adhesive is that it takes 24 hours to set.  Epoxy takes only minutes to set but is more difficult to sand out once it cures.

Many canoes come into the shop with the outwales missing entirely.  Most professional wood-canvas canoe people focus their attention on the building of new canoes even though most of their revenue comes from rebuilding old ones.  Consequently, when asked to replace outwales, they will use generic outwales that they have on hand.  I prefer to replicate the original style of outwale for that specific canoe.  This takes longer because each set of outwales is essentially a one-off.  However, the result is a canoe that looks the way it did when it was built in the factory 50 years ago.  The only time I deviate from the original construction is for Huron canoes.  The original outwales were made of spruce which tended to break apart relatively quickly.  In this case, I use ash to make replacement outwales.

When examining the hull of the canoe, be prepared to spend a couple of hours examining every rib and plank with a fine-tooth comb.  Sometimes, broken ribs are obvious, but most often they are not.  If, when looking at the exterior surface of the hull, you notice a bulge or an area of the hull that is no longer fair, it indicates that there is a broken rib present.  I go over every rib in the canoe pushing from the outside along the full length looking for spots that flex.  A lack of strength in an area of the hull usually comes from a break in either the rib or the planking or both.

Canoe seats came in various styles.  Chestnut Prospectors and Greenwood Prospectors had slat seats.  Most others had hand-woven cane seats.  Huron canoe seats were woven with rawhide in the same way snowshoes were made.  If you’ve never woven a seat in either rawhide or cane, be prepared to spend 8 to 12 hours on each seat.  With practice, that time is cut in half or better.  However, bear in mind that this is a labour-intensive operation.

The interior varnish of the canoe is often in good shape.  It simply requires cleaning and scrubbing followed by a couple of coats of spar varnish.  However, if the varnish is cracking, flaking or gone all together, the entire interior finish must be stripped and rebuilt with linseed oil, shellac and varnish.  Rebuilding the interior finish is a messy, labour-intensive job.  However, the results are in direct proportion to the amount of time spent on the process.

To "repair" this Huron canoe, the previous owner applied fiberglass matt and fiberglass cloth to the interior of the hull over the broken ribs. He then installed oak ribs between the original (broken) cedar ribs and secured them in place with wood screws from the inside.

In many canoes that come to the shop, I have to contend with the repairs that other people have made before me.  In most cases, I spend a lot of time repairing the repairs.  This means removing fiberglass, lag-bolts, silicon or gobs of epoxy.  While removing one set of stem-bands, I came across #4 slot screws, #4 Robertson (square-drive) screws, #6 slot screws and #6 Robertson screws.

Finally, many people owning Chestnut canoes are reluctant to get their canoes re-canvassed because they don’t want to lose the Chestnut decals on the deck and hull.  Well, fear not.  Roger MacGregor at Ivy Lea Shirt Company has come to the rescue.  He publishes authentic reproductions of Chestnut, Peterborough and other decals as well as an assortment of clothing with the old logos emblazoned on them.  Just tell him that Mike at Kettle River Canoes sent you.  http://www.ivyleashirtco.com/

As far as costs are concerned, the old adage holds true: “If you have to ask . . .” That said, for some minor woodworking repairs, a couple of coats of varnish on the interior and a new canvas you ought to expect to pay about $1500 to $2000.  If the interior finish has to be stripped and rebuilt, you can add $800 to $1000 to that bill.  An extensive rebuild can run from $3000 to $4000 and up.  However, these canoes are often regarded as part of the family and who puts a price on one of their children?  Also, when it is done properly, the restored canoe will take the family into the next couple of generations before it needs to be rebuilt again.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Canvassing a Wood-Canvas Canoe: A Pictorial Guide

The process of stretching canvas onto a wooden canoe is a ballet of vertical and horizontal tension resulting in a beautiful and complex upholstery job.

A few years ago, I saw a guy looking over a fully restored canoe that I had on display in front of our house.  He examined the canoe very carefully before he introduced himself to me.  It turns out Harry had built his canoe while working for a canoe company in the late 1970’s.  It needed a new canvas but he wasn’t prepared to re-jig his entire shop in order to canvas one canoe.  I presume I passed the audition because Harry then asked me to re-canvas his canoe.

The first step in the canvassing process is to examine the exterior of the hull very carefully.  I check every tack in the canoe (approximately 2,000 tacks).  Raised tacks are re-clinched with an auto-body dolly and a tack hammer.  Loose tacks are removed and replaced with new ones.  I then run my hands over the entire hull.  Any new planking that is not flush with the rest of the hull is sanded smooth.  Then, I brush the hull and make sure there is no debris left on the hull.

Once I’m sure I have a completely smooth hull to work with, I drape new canvas over the hull.  I normally use #10 canvas weighing 14.5 ounces per square yard.  Canvas that is 72” wide will work for most canoes.  Large canoes, such as freighters, often require canvas that is 96” wide.  Since I purchase canvas in 100-yard rolls, I have the advantage of being able to set up the roll on a rack.  I can then simply pull off the required length directly over the canoe (like pulling toilet paper off a roll).

I secure the canvas to the inwales with spring clamps before I turn the canoe over.  I use a pair of canoe cradles to hold the canoe while I work on it.  They are simple to make, store away easily when not in use and allow me to rotate the canoe quickly and easily as I work on it.  Since I’m 6’3” tall, I make cradles that are 32” high.

I described my canvas clamps in a previous blog, so I won’t go through it again.  I make sure the canvas ends are even before I wrap them around a 1” dowel and secure the whole thing with the canvas clamps.  One clamp is secured to a fixed point on one wall while the other end is attached to a come-along secured to the opposite wall.  With everything in place, I remove the cradles and make sure the canoe is sitting squarely in the centre of the canvas envelope.

If I started stretching the canvas now, the canoe would pop right out of the envelope.  To keep it in place, I use two-2×4’s as vertical struts wedged between the ceiling and the canoe.  I protect the bottom of the canoe with 2’ lengths of 2×6.  The bottom end of each vertical strut is set up slightly further away from the come-along that the top end.  As tension is applied with the come-along, the bottom end of each strut is pulled closer to it. This brings the vertical struts closer to plumb as tension is applied.

I crank the come-along a number of times to take up the slack in the canvas.  I check everything at this point.  I don’t want a loose clamp or crooked strut to suddenly let go under tension.  Now, I put a new blade into my utility knife and trim the canvas.  I the canvas along the sides and leave about 3” above the sheer line.  In my first canvas jobs, I trimmed the canvas down to about 6” above the sheer line and then carefully trimmed away more canvas as I worked around the canoe with the canvas stretchers.  With about 100 canoes under my belt, I can now trim it to the desired height in one go – by eye.  With the canvas trimmed, I clamp the canvas to the ends of the canoe with long “clothes-pins”.  These can be no more than two 2’ lengths of hardwood (about 1’ wide and 3/8” thick) clamped together at the top with a C-clamp.  If you want to get serious about it, you can make proper one-piece units reinforced at the top with a ¼” bolt, washers and a wing-nut.

At this point, the come-along is cranked until the canvas is stretched tightly around the canoe.  As I crank, I tap the canvas at the end closest to the come-along.  When the canvas rings like a tenor drum, I start to attach the canvas along the sides of the canoe.  Starting at the centre of the canoe, I protect the inwale with a metal angle-bracket and grab the canvas as close to the inwale as I can with the stretchers.

I use the stretchers to pull the canvas tight and then attach it near the top of the planking.  I used ½” Monel staples and a staple gun for a long time to attach the canvas along the sheer line.  Recently, I ordered three boxes of 7/8” brass tacks and received 1” tacks instead.  These tacks are the same length they used in canoe factories back in the day.  Since I had 1,000 1” tacks, I decided to try them.  Not surprisingly, they work extremely well.  I guess they knew what they were doing.

 

I drive one tack into the rib-top and move over to the next.  Once I’ve done three or four, I move to the other side of the canoe and pull the canvas tight.  I keep moving towards each end of the canoe until I’ve tacked the entire canoe up to both ends.  If I notice that the canvas is sagging between the tacks as I move along the side of the canoe, it indicates that there is not enough tension in the canvas.  Before I get too far, I remove the tacks, crank the come-along a few more notches and try again.  As with other things in this process, my first attempts involved a great deal of trial-and-error.  After five or six dozen canoes, I’ve developed a pretty good feel for the amount of tension required.

Once the canvas is attached around the entire hull, the tension is released from the come-along, the vertical struts are removed, the cradles are returned to support the canoe and it is cut out of the envelope close to the edge of the clamps.  The canvas clamps and come-along are put away and the canoe is turned upside-down.

I lift up one end of the canoe and support it on top of the cradle with a scrap length of 2×4.  The loose end of canvas is then folded with a crease at the centre of the canoe in line with the stem.  The canvas is then cut along the crease from the point where the stem turns away from the canvas at the bottom of the canoe.  This creates two halves of canvas at the end of the canoe.  Each half is trimmed to leave about 3” of canvas extending past the stem profile.

One side is then stretched and tacked.  I start at the point where I cut the canvas along the crease and hammer 3 or 4 tacks with about 1” space between the tacks.  I use short 5/8” tacks to attach the ends of the canvas to the canoe stem.  Next, I stretch the canvas at the stem-top with three or four tacks.  I alternate from top to bottom moving towards the centre of the stem.  Once that side is tacked, I trim the canvas along the open side.

The other half of the canvas end is stretched, tacked and trimmed in the same manner as the first.  Throughout this process, I check to ensure the canvas is stretched smooth with not sags, creases or puckers.  With one end completed, I turn the canoe around and do the other end.

I then support the canoe on top of the cradles at both ends and get out the propane torch.  Before the filler is applied, the canvas knap is removed.  Knap is the fuzzy balls of cotton extending above the weave in the canvas.  This fuzz is burned away with a torch.  The only trick here is to keep the torch moving.  Also, keep an eye open for any thread-ends that may catch fire as you get to the edges of the canvas.  Make sure these are extinguished.  Otherwise, the thread will continue to burn like a wick along its full length.  As a result, the canvas will be split into two pieces and you will have to do the whole job again.

So, there it is.  The canvas is stretched onto the canoe and the surface is ready to be filled.  I can certainly relate to Harry as he contemplated the prospect of re-canvassing the canoe himself.  It is simple enough once you know how to do it.  If it is your first canoe, you will find the learning curve to be a little steep.  However, once you are done, you will have a skill that you will probably never use again.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca

Removing Stubborn Fasteners from a Wood-Canvas Canoe

As I approach a new canoe restoration project, I brace myself for the inevitable struggle with corroded, damaged or otherwise stubborn screws and tacks.

The degree of difficulty in this regard has a lot to do with the type of canoe I’m working on.  Generally, Chestnut and Peterborough canoes were constructed almost exclusively with non-corrosive fasteners.  I say almost because I have run across the odd steel screw or common nail – especially in Chestnut canoes built in the last few years before they went bankrupt.  Apparently, as they attempted to keep the cost of production down in order to compete with the rapidly rising competition from aluminum and fiberglass canoe manufacturers, they would sometimes use less expensive fasteners.

In most cases however, especially if the canoe is a Huron, Richardson or Greenwood, I take a deep breath and haul out almost every tool I own.  To disassemble a canoe, I arm myself with an arsenal of IMD’s (implements of mass deconstruction).  They include: an old screwdriver with a long shaft, a propane torch, a pair of vise-grips, a restorer’s pry-bar and an old framing hammer with a 20 oz. head.  I also keep a variable speed drill and a saber saw handy.

To remove carriage bolts from seats, I grab a can of WD-40 and a hack saw as well as the other tools listed above.

When a regular tack remover won't work, I grab a reluctant tack with a Concave Cutter which is normally used to trim Bonsai trees. The concave shape of the cutting face works beautifully to lever the tack out of the wood.

For canoe tacks, I use a tack remover and a bonsai concave cutter.  In all of this work, I make sure I’m wearing safety glasses.  I’ve lot count of the number of old canoe tacks that have ricocheted off my glasses.  Many times the tack will break as I start to pry it loose, sending half of it towards your eye at Mach 2.

 

When outwale screws are covered with putty, an awl is used to expose the screw and clean putty from the slot-head.

Greenwood canoes and many canoes made in the States used slotted screws.  In addition, the heads were covered with putty to hide the screw holes.  In this case, I reach for an awl to left and clear the dried putty.

 

 

 

A basic tip for the removal of old, stubborn screws is to use heat.  I insert an old screwdriver in the head of the screw and then heat the shaft of the screwdriver with my propane torch.  The hot screwdriver gets the screw hot as well.  After about a minute, the screw has expanded slightly and broken free of the corrosion.  It then turns out without much trouble.  In some cases, the head is worn enough that it takes a lot of fuss and bother (not to mention holding your tongue just right) to turn the screw at all.  I can usually get the screw up far enough to then grab it with a pair of vise-grips to finish the job.

Heat up a corroded screw to expand the metal and break the corrosion. If the screw won'y turn out with a screwdriver, then lift it out with a restorer's pry-bar.

When the head is worn beyond the point where a screwdriver can do any good, I heat up the screw and pry it out with a pry-bar and an old framing hammer.  This works for lifting an outwale and its screw away from the canoe.  It also works for removing an old stem-band and a reluctant screw.

 

When all else fails, I use a large carbide-tipped drill bit and my variable speed drill to drill out the head of the screw.

Sometimes the only way to extract the screws from an outwale is to cut the outwale into many small pieces and then use vise-grips to turn the screw. Even then, sometimes the screw is completely corroded and simply breaks off.

On a number of occasions, while attempting to remove the outwales from a Greenwood canoe, I have had no other choice but to cut the beautiful mahogany into a hundred tiny pieces in order to expose the completely corroded screws.  In some cases, the screws were completely bonded to the wood so that when I used vise-grips, I only succeed in breaking the screws off completely.

I warned one client about this possibility when I was giving him an estimate on the restoration of his Greenwood canoe.  He just laughed and told me a story about Bill Greenwood and his feud with one of his suppliers around 1973.  Apparently, his supplier refused to ship less than 10,000 screws at a time.  Bill was just as stubborn and insisted that they sell him the brass screws in lots of 1,000.  Neither side would budge, so Bill – out of pure spite – ordered steel screws from another supplier.

I suppose that, for Bill, he won the war.  However, I’m not sure that the maintenance of his pride was worth it in the long run.  Then again, he doesn’t have to mill new mahogany outwales and install them with bronze screws thirty years later.

So, dear reader, as you rebuild your wood-canvas canoe with new fasteners, keep in mind that they will be removed by another poor soul.  If you use proper fasteners, the next rebuilder in the life of your canoe will thank you.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Zen and the Art of Wooden Canoe Repair

A Zen Master and his student were walking together across a bridge when the student asked, “Master, What is Zen?”  Before the student had a chance to react, the Zen Master picked him up and threw him off the bridge into the river below.

Zen is the moment – right here, right now.  Zen Masters have written thousands of books in an attempt to explain the unexplainable.  As the student hurtled through the air towards the water in the river, he was totally consumed in the moment.  No past – No future – Just now.

I was an elite athlete competing at the national and international level for about 10 years.  I spent another 10 years coaching young people who went on to compete on National and Olympic teams.  My sport – or more accurately, my discipline – was the martial art of European fencing.

It is the only sport in the world where the participants are trying to hit each other with steel objects.  It is fast – beyond conscious thought.  If a fencer sees an opening – an opportunity to hit the opponent – it is too late to act on it.  To be successful, the fencer must surrender totally to the moment and trust that the years of training and thousands of hours of practice will service him or her well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205DiZhDYGE

So, what does this have to do with wood-canvas canoes?  For me, everything I do in the canoe workshop is influenced by and connected to my training in martial arts.

I have restored more than 100 wood-canvas canoes in the past six years or so.  In that time, I have noticed that the work demands a mind and a body which are together in the present moment.  As soon as I start trying to rush things, I make a mistake and have to start all over again.  As soon as I think of myself as the expert or that the job is simple, I find something I’ve never come across before or I get bogged down in technical problems.  As soon as I find myself obsessing over the technical aspects of a project and try to think my way through it, everything grinds to a halt in a mass of frustration.  And the more I try to get out of my frustrations and get back to “the moment”, the worse it gets.

I find that a canoe restoration is just the same as a fencing bout.  It is an opportunity to immerse myself in what is happening at this moment – now and now and now and now.

When I succeed in getting there, the hammer drives the tacks straight into the wood with no effort – almost by themselves.  The hot, steamed wood bends around the mold as though it wanted to hug the canoe in a warm embrace.  The work flows and I lose complete track of time.  One minute, I’ve just started the day and the next minute, I’ve completed three days work in six hours.

But, just as in the fencing bout, as soon as I try to take credit for the accomplishment or repeat the masterful actions of the past, everything goes wrong.  The tack jabs in under my fingernail as I grab it.  I bend a new rib over the canoe only to find that it is upside-down and has to be thrown away.  The air of the shop is filled with my not-so-quiet curses.

At those moments, sometimes at least, I am able to see it as an opportunity.  I am able to catch myself and laugh at the situation and laugh at my approach to it.  I take a deep breath, shake my head and return to work determined to revel in the frustrations.  I practice learning how to stay with the day where nothing seems to be going my way.  When I succeed in taking the day – and myself – for what it is, things tend to turn around.  More often than not, the rest of the day flows effortlessly.

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/

Replacing Sheer-Line Planks in a Wood-Canvas Canoe: a Pictorial Guide

The planking along the sheer-line of a wood-canvas canoe is often rotted by the time it needs a new canvas.  Replacing these planks requires a custom fit.  So, throw away the square because there isn’t a right-angle anywhere in a wood-canvas canoe.

In order to replace a rib in a 17’ Chestnut Prospector, I had to remove a small angled piece of planking in the bow-quarter at the sheer-line on both sides of the canoe.  This exposed the rib-top and allowed me to remove the nails that held the old rib to the inwales.  Once the new rib was in place, the next step is to replace the planking at the sheer-line.  Sometimes, the original piece can be re-installed.  However, more often than not, a new piece of planking is required.

In the early days of my adventures in wood-canvas canoe repair, I made planking by re-sawing 1×6 cedar fence boards and then planing them to the required thickness (5/32”).  Although I still cut rib stock from fence boards, I use enough planking to warrant having it custom-milled by a local sawyer.  I restored a canoe for a guy who runs a small sawmill about 60 Km from Grand Forks.  As partial payment, he milled up an old cedar telephone pole into 14’ planks that are 5/32” thick and ranging in width from 5” to 10”.  He uses a large band-saw (Wood Miser) to cut ¼” slices and then planes them to the desired thickness.  Whenever I need a piece of planking, I walk over to my pile and grab a length and work from there.  It is a true luxury that I enjoy.

Along the sheer-line, each piece of new planking needs to be custom-fitted.  The new plank butts up against the adjacent planking at an off-angle.  The first step is to transfer that butt-joint angle from the canoe onto the new planking.  I use a sliding bevel to capture the angle.  This tool is invaluable throughout the rebuilding process.

The angle is marked onto the new cedar and the angle is cut.  There are many ways to cut this angle.  I use a Japanese cross-cut saw with 14 teeth/inch.

 

 

 

The new plank now fits into place on the canoe.  The next step is to trim the plank to the rough shape required.  I mark the plank by running a pencil along the top of the inwale to draw a rough line on the back-side of the plank.  I cut the plank along this line with a sharp utility knife.

The new plank is then tacked into place along the bottom edge.

 

 

 

 

 

In most wood-canvas canoes, the planking is trimmed ¼” below the rib-tops to allow the outwales to fit flush with the rib-tops (all except Huron canoes, where the planking is flush with the rib-tops).  To trim the planking, I first use a pencil jig that I saw described by Jerry Stelmok in his book Building the Maine Guide Canoe (1980).  When I was restoring my first canoe 14 years ago, I fashioned a rough jig out of a cut-off piece of spruce 2×4.  Since then, I’ve been meaning to make a nice one using hardwood, but the spruce jig works fine and it now has a bit of nostalgia attached to it.  So, I’m sure that rough piece of spruce that I turned into a jig in five minutes will end up lasting longer than me.

A utility knife trims the planking to the proper depth below the rib-tops.  In these pictures, you may notice a couple of incidental details.  First, I’m left-handed.  Second, I wear bicycle gloves most of the time when I’m working in the shop.  I find they reduce the number of blisters I get on my hands.  I also find they help reduce the vibrations from tools such as the random-orbital sander.

Tacks are then driven straight through the planking and rib into the inwale to finish the installation.

 

 

 

 

Once all of the woodwork has been completed, I stain all of the new wood to match the original wood in the canoe.

 

 

 

Check out Kettle River Canoes at: http://www.canoeshop.ca/