282 Building the Bark Canoe - webapps8

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Minehart lines the birch bark with cedar sheathing to stiffen and strengthen the hull.the gunwales, ribs, and sheathing.Finally, he slogs into a peat bog togrub the 300 feet of black-spruceroot used to sew pieces of bark toeach other, fasten the bark to thegunwales, and lash wood together.He digs around the base of a largetree, finds a pencil-sized root, andpulls up to 20 feet of it out of theground. Back at the shop, he splitsthe root down the middle so it willhe flat against the bark and wood."I used to feel I could gather allthe material for a canoe in a day,"Minehart says. "Now I'd say it takesmore like two and a half to threedays. If s harder to find the quality. Ittakes more scouting every year."Not Like Hollywood. Unlikewood and canvas boats, birch barkcanoes are built right-side up. Minehartsews the bark into a single largepiece and lays it inside a buildingframe of upright stakes, which holdthe bark in the shape of a hog trough.(Indians simply pounded 2-footstakes into the ground to form theoutline of the canoe.) Contrary to theimage propagated by Hollywood,the tan inner bark forms the outsideof the hull, because the papery whiteJANUARY-FEBRUARY 1992 53
Birch Bark Canoesside would soon wear away. "Amovie company wanted to get Bill tobuild one with the white side out,"Minehart recalls. "They thought thatwas the way people would want tosee it. But Bill thought it over andsaid, 'I'm just not going to do it. Iwork too hard at this.' He turneddown a whale of a commission."With the bark in place, Minehartbends laminated cedar into stempieces, wraps them with basswoodbark so they hold their shape, andsews them into the bow and stern.Next he splits out cedar gunwales,which he clamps to the upright stakesof the building frame. He drills a seriesof holes down the sides of thehull, just beneath the gunwales, andlashes the bark and gunwales together.'Tower tools help when there's somelittle job like drilling the holes forside bindings. When you build for amarket, you've got to make somecompromises in the old Indian ways."Minehart splits out several dozencedar planks Vi6 inch thick, severalinches wide, and several feet long toline the hull. Two dozen cedar boards5/i6 inch thick form the canoe's ribs.He steams or boils the pieces tosoften them, and bends each to shapeusing his eye alone as a guide. "Youdecide then whether you're going tohave a flat-bottomed canoe, a shallowarch, or a round bottom."He drives the ribs into place, beginningwith those at the ends. Eachnew rib tightens the skin of bark, andthe last rib locks into place amidships.One Concession. Then Minehartlashes the thwarts (crosspieces) inplace, pinching the hull inward againstthe tension of the ribs to get the propercross section. "The boat at that pointstill isn't used to being a boat," he says.Finally, he flips the canoe over andseals the seams. Indians used sprucegum tempered with animal tallowand charcoal, but it ran in hot weatherand cracked in cold. Minehart andHafeman, in their only concession tomodern materials, use syntheticroofing compound. When it dries,Minehart is ready to paddle off.A canoe takes three to four weeksto build. Minehart makes three or fourevery summer before going back toschool. All his jobs are custom orders.Although he knows many ofhis canoes will go on display (hebuilt one last summer to be a restaurantsalad bar), he'd rather see hiscustomers paddle their boats, whichare as durable as wood and canvasboats and less prone to rot."All the canoe's components originatefrom a damp to a downright wetenvironment," Minehart says. Theworst you can do is to let a canoe dryout. It should be wet in summer andleft outside in winter, out of the sun.Indians sank their canoes in shallowwater each fall, storing them forwinter beneath the ice.54 THE MINNESOTA VOLUNTEER
Page 2 and 3: Jack Minehart makes canoes likethe
Page 5 and 6: Birch Bark CanoesMiriehart sews tog
Page 7: Minehart splits out thin sheets of

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