canoe maker

Hope my American visitors had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday this weekend. Up here, Central Ontario had its first significant snowfall on Saturday. Just so happened we were at the cottage lake during this time. Haven't been in the canoe since early August so despite the slightly chilly temps of -8�C, a quick paddle on the lake was must. Here's a shot by the shore with the sprinkling of snow on the disassembled boat slips.



Stayed close to the shoreline where water levels were quite low. In shallow water, I've become partial to the small Birch Cree paddle that was reshaped from a kids paddle back in 2010. Nice wide tip in case you scrape the bottom with an interesting design that works well in shallow or deep water.

Not much in terms of wildlife anymore as the lake is preparing for another slumbering winter season. However, did get a splashy show from this small flock of Canadian Geese...


Unfortunately I completely missed the fall leaf colour change this year but heard from many folks that it was stunningly vibrant compared to previous seasons. The winter view was a nice consolation prize...


Also got a chance to test out the recently completed c1839 Minnesota Voyageur replica. Just at this moment, the sun peaked out behind some clouds lighting up the warm cherry hues of the paddle and the golden white cedar. Was a nice contrast to the chilly black water and otherwise bland background colours.



Here's a clumsy shot trying to take a pic of the paddle grip in action. Despite having some bulky wool mittens on, the flattened grip was comfortable enough for a relaxed paddle stroke. The small, roll top grip was sufficient for gripping in the usual manner, but I found it worked best as a "stopper" of sorts when holding the grip along the edge

Came across a snapshot article from Daily Gleaner outlining a visit of Canadian Architect Douglas Cardinal  to St. Mary's First Nation in New Brunswick. The story features some photos of the replica of the Grandfather Akwiten built by Steve Cayard and G. Wayne Brooks at the St.Mary's First Nation in 2009 (more info on Steve Cayard's site here).

Anyway, the newspaper article had a close up Brooks & Cardinal holding some traditional paddles...what looks to be both an older set with curved notches in the grip and a new set with some basic etching.

From a sold Ebay Link are some vintage pics of a 1915 Maine Canoe trip. These were part of an album containing 59 photos. The seller believes the photographer probably was P. DOUGLAS ANDERSON (1887-1964) or RAY JEROME BAKER (1880-1972). Also included is the name of the canoe guide listed as "Guide: A.F.Ayer"

For canoe enthusiasts, these pics feature some early forms of closed gunnel cedar canvas canoes. Like their birchbark forerunners they lack seats. The sport would sit on the floor of the hull in the bow and the guide typically on a widened thwart near the stern. Some of the pics include a few shots of the classic Maine Guide paddles with their flattened grips. The last photo in the sequence below features a closeup shot of the guide paddling in the stern with a wide flared grip. Reminds reminds me of another photo posted earlier from an 1899 canoe trip down the Penobscot.

Steven Hanton and Willow Lohr have begun a canoe business in Scotland appropriately named Canvas Canoes. Pics from their new website show some gorgeous looking traditional northwoods gear including setting poles, wanigans and packbaskets. Included on their products page are some current models of paddles, one of which is a traditional scalloped gripped Northwoods Guide from ash.




Beautiful stuff. The primary canoe model is based on the 17.5' Atkinson Traveller, a classic Maine tripping canoe. Photos showcasing the canoe include some shots of Steven with one of his first paddle creations - a 6foot long, whippy paddle with lots of flex. Steven was kind enough to provide some details regarding its origin - apparently traced from an circa 1920's Guide Paddle from Alexandra Conover Bennett of Northwoods Ways.







Wishing Steven and Willow well in their new canoe business and looking forward to seeing more of their photos. If you'd like to get in touch with them, you can do so through their contact info below:

I'm a little late in posting about this, but Mike O of Reflections Outdoors blog has been working to secure funding for a canoe project for at-risk native youth. Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe.  Readers might recall that Mike previously helped organize a canoe restoration project in remote Fort Severn, Ontario to work on the freighter canoes of the local Cree community.

Here are some excerpts describing his vision of this new project...

The Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe  would be a First Nations canoe project for Anishinaabe youth�.using the canoe as a means to help these young people on their life's journey. Such canoe trips could develop leadership skills as well as increase awareness of their Native culture and traditions. The youth participants return to their communities as future leaders.

Such trips could involve bark canoes�.and wood canvas canoes�.built by First Nations youth�.for the trips. This past summer bark canoes were built by Native youth in Ottawa�.on Bear Island in Temagami �.and in Oshawa. Hopefully 4 wood canvas canoes, specifically built for this project, could be painted by various Anishinaabe artists�.and after the trip ends each of these canoes could be raffled off to further fund canoe projects in First Nation communities.

Round 3 of voting for funding for this project runs for the next 12 days and once you register, you can vote each day of the remaining voting time. Read more and vote HERE if interested.

P.S. If you are problems logging on or registering with the Aviva Community Fund website (like I did), you'll need to try another web-browser. It worked finally when I used Google Chrome...

Been slowly working on my replica of the Minnesota Historical Society paddle (dated to 1839) supposedly belonging to a voyageur...



The blade was pretty much done (see Part 1 here) but some final shaping of the grip and shaft was necessary...


The grip area was shaped with a knife to form the rounded top similar, but not identical, to the lipped top of the original. The whole paddle was left a bit rougher since I'm trying to get better relying on just a carving technique so many of the knife marks are still there - something that I can accept with this paddle replica. Here's a pic of the paddle wetted to raise the grain




The only decoration on the original paddle is the incised grip area. Took a pencil and sketched out my own version of the decoration with a few subtle differences in the pattern. Instead of adding the initials "W.D." which appear in the middle of the grip, I've left this section blank and may add in some initials later. The pencil graphite reflected a lot flash if a straight-on picture was taken, so the following pic is set a bit on an angle...


About 45 minutes of basic burning and the paddle was ready for its first coat of oil. Took advantage of the first bit of afternoon sun we've seen in over 10 days to get some pics. Here's the completed paddle below but it'll have to wait until next season to be used.

Here's a bit of some vintage summer camp art. A 63" ash paddle dated from a 1930's boyscout camp painted in graphic totem style, found near Lake George, New York...