A Lovely Canoe
- Thread starter Tengu
- Start date
How pretty is that? Don't see white ones so often. Every colour but. It's dignified, like the elegant ghost of all canoes. Seems weirdly affordable too. I hope it finds a good home.
White doesn't show scratches quite so badly, but I suppose the best way to avoid scratching would be to never take it out of the water
White doesn't show scratches quite so badly, but I suppose the best way to avoid scratching would be to never take it out of the water
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I'm surprised that they painted the outside.
Cedar strip boats always give you looks and bragging rights.
Cedar strip boats always give you looks and bragging rights.
Your are lucky to have seen them. I have spent ton of time on Ontario lakes and BC Gulf Islands. Only ever seen them with glass skins. Heard of all-wood canoes, seen pictures of them and even owned an all-wood kayak at one point. Never actually seen a wood canoe in the flesh ... less so a birch one come to think of it. For unicorns only, I reckon.
I see maybe 2 or 3 cedar strip canoes each summer. Often on car top roof racks and out-of-province plates.
Real traffic stoppers.
THE MOST SPECTACULAR is the 16' from the Hudson's Bay Company ( built in the UK?).
Of course it's painted white with the yellow, red, green and indigo color bands.
Recall they go for $5,000, if you can spare a dime.
Extinct now, the big Chestnut freighters were paint & canvas over wood strip.
I worked out of one for several Uni summers. 21' at the waterline, 24' overall and 5' wide.
Real traffic stoppers.
THE MOST SPECTACULAR is the 16' from the Hudson's Bay Company ( built in the UK?).
Of course it's painted white with the yellow, red, green and indigo color bands.
Recall they go for $5,000, if you can spare a dime.
Extinct now, the big Chestnut freighters were paint & canvas over wood strip.
I worked out of one for several Uni summers. 21' at the waterline, 24' overall and 5' wide.
There is every possible point in birch bark. This is the gold standard.
It isn't some sort of novelty as you may have been led to believe.
Not your species, not your multipurpose tree.
The concept is paleo, goes back thousands of years.
Modern birch bark canoes are stunners. Maybe $6 kilobucks if you can get on a list.
Ageless? No, I'm afraid not. I get to spend time on the Churchill River.
I lived there. There's even Chestnut freighters rotting in the bush.
The birch is in the far east. Look to builders in Quebec. They live.
It isn't some sort of novelty as you may have been led to believe.
Not your species, not your multipurpose tree.
The concept is paleo, goes back thousands of years.
Modern birch bark canoes are stunners. Maybe $6 kilobucks if you can get on a list.
Ageless? No, I'm afraid not. I get to spend time on the Churchill River.
I lived there. There's even Chestnut freighters rotting in the bush.
The birch is in the far east. Look to builders in Quebec. They live.
Birch bark canoes must not last very long at all. 10 years with excellent storage?
I've never seen even pictures of the wreckage of one. I can't even conjure up an image of
trying to patch one if it got holed by a rock in some rapids.
Chestnut freighter canoes were very well varnished, coming from the factory.
I expect that keeping them clean and dry meant a lot for life span.
Even patching the painted canvas was a chore to keep the outer wood surface dry.
Maybe 15? years with care? Really far too big for strictly pleasure use.
Grumman made aluminum canoes and Peterborough and others introduced fiberglas.
Far from traditional but their durability was unquestioned in the face of zero maintenance.
I've never seen even pictures of the wreckage of one. I can't even conjure up an image of
trying to patch one if it got holed by a rock in some rapids.
Chestnut freighter canoes were very well varnished, coming from the factory.
I expect that keeping them clean and dry meant a lot for life span.
Even patching the painted canvas was a chore to keep the outer wood surface dry.
Maybe 15? years with care? Really far too big for strictly pleasure use.
Grumman made aluminum canoes and Peterborough and others introduced fiberglas.
Far from traditional but their durability was unquestioned in the face of zero maintenance.
There's one that is 250 years old somewhere ... hang on
Yes, here:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...nd-among-junk-in-british-shed/article1319622/
It is on its way to the Peterborough canoe museum in Ontario apparently
Yes, here:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...nd-among-junk-in-british-shed/article1319622/
It is on its way to the Peterborough canoe museum in Ontario apparently
As Tengu points out, coracles are found all over.
Don't forget that the paper birch of North America is far different from the papery-looking birch in the UK.
I have some vague recollection of someone showing me drawings of bison-hide coracles
made on the mid-western great plains. Willow frames.
Not much for birch in the Grassland Biome which is sustained by fire, as well.
Don't forget that the paper birch of North America is far different from the papery-looking birch in the UK.
I have some vague recollection of someone showing me drawings of bison-hide coracles
made on the mid-western great plains. Willow frames.
Not much for birch in the Grassland Biome which is sustained by fire, as well.
You get paper birch in Ontario too, RV. Never really noticed it in BC, but I suspect it is there too. Someone (?) once said that successive tougher winters will make for thicker, more robust and flexible bark. That might be made up, though
Eastern North America is the "birch building community" using paper birch as a multipurpose plant/tree.
All sorts of things to be make from the wood and bark. It is not the same species that is found in the UK.
Crafting with UK birch looks to be such a disappointment as it appears so inflexible when compared with ours.
We've got patchy groves of paper birch (with 6 other species) in the Aspen Parkland Biome and up this way
into the Boreal Forest/Taiga Biome. I live in the Interior Cedar Hemlock zone. I can show you some groves of absolutley
stupendous paper birch, 16-20" DBH, as uncommmon as it is.
However, boats in the interior are cottonwood logs, most recent was carved just 3-4 years ago in Prince George at their museum.
On the coast, the boats always were sea-worthy, ocean-going cedar canoes of 40 - 60' lengths,
still being carved (quite the process). Mungo Martin had been involved in the making of more than 40 of them.
The ocean is the only road which connects many of the villages on Haida Gwaii.
All sorts of things to be make from the wood and bark. It is not the same species that is found in the UK.
Crafting with UK birch looks to be such a disappointment as it appears so inflexible when compared with ours.
We've got patchy groves of paper birch (with 6 other species) in the Aspen Parkland Biome and up this way
into the Boreal Forest/Taiga Biome. I live in the Interior Cedar Hemlock zone. I can show you some groves of absolutley
stupendous paper birch, 16-20" DBH, as uncommmon as it is.
However, boats in the interior are cottonwood logs, most recent was carved just 3-4 years ago in Prince George at their museum.
On the coast, the boats always were sea-worthy, ocean-going cedar canoes of 40 - 60' lengths,
still being carved (quite the process). Mungo Martin had been involved in the making of more than 40 of them.
The ocean is the only road which connects many of the villages on Haida Gwaii.
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