The Making of a Cedar Dugout Canoe

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

LAYOUT

At the work site, peel off the bark and—using peaveys or a come-along—roll the tree so that its knot-free half is facing down. You'll also need to decide which end will be the stern . . . in Tait's case, it had to be the log's butt, since his design called for a relatively tall stern-end stem. 

Next, locate and mark the approximate center of one end, and then draw perpendicular lines intersecting that point, as shown in Fig. I (snap a chalked plumb line from top to bottom to produce the vertical mark, and use a pencil and a level or square to establish the horizontal plane). Repeat the process at the other end.

With that accomplished, "quarter" the timber longitudinally by snapping chalk lines along the face of the log to connect the four outermost points of the bisecting lines at one end to the corresponding points at the other. You'll have to turn the log over, of course, to achieve this on the bottom side.

Now, with the log still upside down, locate what will be the canoe's lower hull line at each end and mark it parallel to its companion horizontal line. Be sure when setting this line that you come down from the base far enough to provide plenty of extra working width on both sides of the hull, but not so far that you won't have enough wood to accommodate the height of the craft's sides. (Tait, for example, positioned his line 6 inches from the log's bottom.) Then snap off a line along each side of the log to connect the outer points of the hull mark at one end to those at the other (again, see Fig. 1).

BLOCKING OUT

At this point you can start blocking out the general shape of the canoe, using the chalked guidelines to help you maintain your intended design.

While the log is upside down, flatten the bottom by using wedges and a sledge to cleave off wood (the shaded section in Fig. 1) until you reach the marked hull lines. (This shouldn't be hard: Cedar is an exceptionally straight-splitting wood.) Then turn the log right side up and—with a carpenter's or grease pencil—sketch in the sheer (deck line), including upturned stems if your design calls for them (as did Tait's), on both sides of the log. To establish the sheer, measure and mark a uniform distance up from the hull line (Twit came up 13 inches) at several points along each side.

Now, you can proceed to remove the large section of log above the sheer . . . a chain saw, although obviously not a traditional tool, makes short work of the job. Using Fig. 2 as a guide to the placement and order of the vertical cuts you make, saw down to within 3 inches of the actual deck line at the four points indicated. Then-with a sledge and wedges-pry out the small chunk between cuts 2 and 4 (the shaded area in Fig. 2), angling the wedges upward, of course, to avoid cutting into material that you may need. Finally, chip out the two large chunks between cuts 1 and 4—again using wedges—and chop off any remaining high spots with a double-bladed ax. 

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print