Canoe

[Jim Bennett]

Cedar strip canoe! Drool. Was just remembering days of my youth in c.s. canoes last night watching The National, the Only in Canada item was on a man who makes birch bark canoes in NS. Did you happen to see it?

Adrian

This is the only one I am aware of, of an older native fellow from Quebec who makes birch bark canoes the traditional way. It is a great watch.

César's Bark Canoe by Bernard Gosselin - NFB

Sorry for sidetracking the thread. Hmmm....I wonder how the miles per calorie is when paddling this canoe compared to some of the newer composite ones.

 

[gocamp-ESC]

I was perusing these plans from Ontario
Canoe and Kayak Plans: Models Available

 

[Jim Bennett]

That is where I got my plans. I am building the Kite, a solo canoe. Martin Step, the owner of Green Valley, was very helpful with a few questions I had. Heck, I even had a couple email exchanges with John Winters, the designer of most of their canoes, as well as a few manufacturers, like Swift.

Here is a link to some photos to date, though I am a bit behind on editing and uploading them.

http://bearleealive.smugmug.com/Other/Canoe-Build-Kite

 

[cpaharley2008]

Beautiful work there Jim.......Wow!! I'm very impressed...

 

[GaryH]

Wow!! Jim, that is one nice canoe!! I've recanvased a cedar/canvas prospector & it's a lot of fun. Something like that is a whole other ballgame! You can never have enough clamps. Has it had it's maiden voyage yet?

 

[bvansnell]

Jim:

What a great job you did in building the canoe! This must have added up to a lot of time! A beautiful looking canoe!

 

[hillary]

Gorgeous canoe!! What an amazing shop you have too!

 

[dave macrae]

That is truly a work of art!! very nice work.

 

[cpaharley2008]

Reminds me of a movie with John Cusak and Diane Lane, where he is a small, hand made boat maker and someone wanted to buy his boat, cut it up and hang it on the wall as art. You will have to watch the movie, "Must love Dogs" to find out the ending, Must Love Dogs -- Official Site

 

[gbaglo]

Bill Mason was one of Canada's premier canoeists and film makers. I have two titles in book form and on video - Path of the Paddle and Song of the Paddle.
You can view Song of the Paddle at the National Film Board site. It runs about 40 minutes. Link attached, but if it doesn't work direct, just go to NFB and look for online film library.

Song of the Paddle by Bill Mason - NFB

 

[Jrn56]

Very nice! No wonder you haven't finished all your Escape mods.

 

[Kærnehuset]

You are a true craftsman Jim. Beautiful work and nice to see the various stages of the build right from the cutting of the raw wood. How many hours thus far do you reckon? I look forward to seeing the finished beauty!!

Scott

 

[Seamstress]

Wow, when I saw the "Add to Cart" button on your site, I thought I could buy a canoe! Actually, I had a similar idea to the other poster, mounting it as a work of art but I would keep it in one piece. That is truly beautiful and I can imagine you having many hours peacefully paddling in your exquisite canoe.

Rosemary

 

[gabeck]

That is where I got my plans. I am building the Kite, a solo canoe. Martin Step, the owner of Green Valley, was very helpful with a few questions I had. Heck, I even had a couple email exchanges with John Winters, the designer of most of their canoes, as well as a few manufacturers, like Swift.

Here is a link to some photos to date, though I am a bit behind on editing and uploading them.

Canoe Build - Kite - BearLeeAlive

Wow .... and Wow ..... guess we could just keep saying wow !!!! That is just so beautiful . Wow !!!!!!!

 

[JohnB]

Very impressive Jim. Makes the rest of us envious of such a beautiful well made canoe. Enjoy the paddle.

 

[gbaglo]

And, that's what's called "building from scratch".

 

[Jim Bennett]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I will post more once I get further with it, and actually process more photos.

You can never have enough clamps. Has it had it's maiden voyage yet?

Absolutely, one can never have enough clamps. I have just finished glassing the inside, and am working on the trim.

Very nice! No wonder you haven't finished all your Escape mods.

Not just the Escape mods, but all the things on the "Honey Do" list around the house too.

You are a true craftsman Jim. Beautiful work and nice to see the various stages of the build right from the cutting of the raw wood. How many hours thus far do you reckon? I look forward to seeing the finished beauty!!

Scott

It was quite neat to have a friend with a log, another with a truck to haul it, and another with a mill to cut it into planks. I have all the woodworking machinery to make the strips. I did buy some cherry for they gunwales, and some absolutely gorgeous quilted maple to do the seat and other trim stuff with.

I so lost track of the time I put in to in, but it is already into the few hundred range, with a bunch more work yet. Other than it takes up space in the garage, I am good with just working at it when I can find the time.

 

[Jim Bennett]

A bit of an aside to the canoe build, but just before I started it, I built myself a router table. The top is a cast iron bought piece, but the rest is all made, the wood all machined from rough stock, other than the plywood. Here are some shots of the router table. My wife is not too happy though, she would rather I built furniture for the house, and not for the shop.

Router Table - BearLeeAlive

 

[gabeck]

That router table definitely did not go unnoticed , it got a whole bunch of wows all by itself !

 

[hotfishtacos]

Jim! Wow! I also dabble in cabinet making and can truly appreciate the time and effort and craftsmanship you put into this project. You win the clamps contest.. Very nice! How are you going to be able to ever scratch it??