Blog - Tales From The River & Workshop

It has been a while since I have been paddling for a whole day and with resin setting on two canoes in the workshop I decided I was due a days paddling. I decided to head against the wind downriver as it was stronger than the flow which means if I am lucky it will make life easier on my return journey. Of course ,there is always a chance it will change during the day but it still pays to be cautious and check your time as you paddle so you can estimate your time getting back.

A disrupted face paddle is one where one of the blade faces is shaped with an uneven surface whilst the other is smooth as normal. The theory is that this will make for a more efficient paddle on forward propulsion strokes. The jury is still out as to whether or not it actually works and as you might imagine it is a difficult concept to prove. There are so many things to consider when testing for example how can you guarantee that the paddler will use the same strokes in exac

The use of masking tape on paint patterns is not as straightforward as it may seem. You might think its a simple matter of putting the tape on painting up to it and lifting off the tape. Think again.. What if you want to put a second coat of paint on? When should you lift off the tape? Is all masking tape the same? Will it give you a good line or will the paint bleed under it? With these thoughts in mind I did a little research and a can of worms was opened. Some say “use a p

Luckily for me if you use Zinsser Watertite to fill your canoe it doesn’t take as long to dry as with traditional fillers but it is still best to leave it a few days which of course id better than several weeks! I left the filler to set and began to think about what colour and design I would like to paint the canoe with. I have been a member of the W.C.H.A (Wooden Canoe Heritage Association) on and off for a few years now and have seen many pictures of wood canvas canoes and

With the canvas covering the canoe and closed at both ends the next stage is to fill it. On close inspection the weave of the canvas has quite a lot of texture. Prior to filling some canoe makers also do something called burning off the nap. Nap is small bits of fabric on the surface that are like little bits of fluff. The method involves taking a blow torch to the surface of the cloth and running it over the surface till these little imperfections are burnt off. Some of you

So the canoe is sitting in its canvas envelope but the ends of the canvas must be closed and sealed to prevent water getting in. You may have also noticed that I have been using my own home made stretching tool to stretch the canvas. This is copied from one I saw in Jerry Stelmok's book on Joe Seliga and consists of a piece of wood with a handle at one end and spikes protruding from the other at right angles. What I found when using this is that it works very well up tot he p

My First Wood Canvas Canoe Build Part 6 Hi Folks Once again I have let things slip with this blog whilst I have been busy building Dabchick No 5 and watching the second wave of the pandemic unfold. Hopefully my blog will be an escape from the worlds troubles! The next part of the build is one of the more exciting aspects, canvassing. For some time I have paddled with friends in the W.C.H.A who own old wood canvas canoes so have heard about the advantage that these offer in th

Hi Folks After another long absence I can finally get back to this slowly evolving blogg! The next thing to be done is the fitting of the final bits of planking up to the sheerline.The fitting of them is the same as the rest of the planking except they need to have their top edges trimmed to allow for the Outwales to be fitted with the rebate covering the edge after the canvas has been fitted. Marking this top edge for cutting is achieved with a simple but effective jig.This

Cant ribs are the last few at each end of the canoe and they are made in two parts as opposed to being bent at the stem. Mainly because the bend is too tight so they would break! First I prepared them from some of the yellow cedar I had, and then I cut the tapers on them followed by routing the edge with a round over bit in the router. Then I gave them a sand with the orbital sander as once fitted this will not be so easy. Where they meet the stems the butt joint has a compou

The stem to gunwale joints can be made in a variety of ways but it is usually some form of open tenon or bridle joint. Even so to many people it doesn’t resemble a mortice and tenon very much and I have to agree its not much like those used in furniture making. First a tenon is cut on the top of the stem.The stem can be trimmed down a little to make this easier but it is still a little tricky with the stem moving around. I carefully cut the shoulders of the joint with my Japa