282 Building the Bark Canoe - webapps8

Minehart splits out thin sheets of white cedar he finds in the woods near his shop."When the sun is shining and thetree is really processing through thatcambium layer, it's well lubricated—the tree practically peels itself." Evenpeeled, the trees survive, as long asthe cambium—the layer of cells betweenthe wood and the bark—isnot damaged. They can be cut laterfor firewood, pulpwood, or veneer.In the days when Hafeman beganbuilding, he could sometimes buildan entire canoe from a single piece ofbark. "His own canoe is that way,"Minehart says. "It makes a strongerboat and cuts down on all the timeyou have to spend stitching." Butpulp cutters have taken the big trees,and "if there are any more like thatleft up there, I've never run acrossone," Minehart says. Today, he maycut bark from five or six trees tobuild a 16-foot canoe.Minehart also needs a long pieceof the inner bark of a basswood treefor binding the curved stem piecesin the bow and stern. He cuts a smallslit on the trunk of a basswood, takeshold of the bark and pulls, peeling aribbon right up the tree.Next, Minehart finds a couple ofknot-free cedars, from which he cutslogs up to 20 feet long for making54 THE MINNESOTA VOLUNTEER