Canoe Building, Part I

A hobby canoe builder begins building a cedar strip canoe. (See also Parts II & III)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• canoe
• building
• cedar
• strip
• woodworking
• hobby

[webcap]

Five-sixteenths of an inch (about 0.8 cm)

[PhillHeslop]

I'm a builder by trade, so I was interested to see him drill through the strip and ribbing them slide a nail in and hammer it into nothing - what is he doing there? Is he flatting the nail on the inside on the back of his tomahawk?

[webcap]

@PhillHeslop Exactly ... like a riveter's bucking bar or a shoemaker's last ... to make the point of the tack curl around and cinch flat into the wood.

[JustWonderingHowToDo]

Do you need to steam the wood or would it be enough to soak them in nearly boiling water?

[webcap]

@JustWonderingHowToDo I don't know about soaking the wood in 'nearly boiling water'. I know that I soak the cedar strips in room temperature water for about 4 days, and then I steam them for about 45 minutes ... and then, you've got about 1 minute to clamp the wood in place. Hope this helps.

[monroeshton]

How thick are the cedar strips?

[joojoo1234]

God bless youtube.... just what I needed to learn...

[heavyfarandfast]

@PhillHeslop It's called clinker built. Look up Rushton from the late 1800's.

[webcap]

@yenamarre100 Canoe bones = ribs? 8 ribs are bent to fit the centre station, then 4 to fit each station down the length of the form. Each station is slightly smaller than the one before it, gradually tapering to the bow and stern. 4 ribs are placed between the station they were formed on and the one next to it, then 4 of the next size in the next interval, and so on from midships to the bow/stern. At the very end I use half-ribs because the bending is too acute. 64 ribs total for a 16-ft canoe.

[RichardBurrberry]

what a beautiful canoe