Today is Beans Birthday, Two years old! Peters faithful dog has had a very successful year in training Peter to take care of HER in the style that he is comfortable with.   Bean has learned to become a very savage watchdog and not one squirrel or mole has been able to sneak into the shop.  If they could only learn to scratch HER between the ears they could get anything they wanted!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAN!

wednesday

Well, Christmas is almost here. Rollin has gone to visit the Grandkids and I will work today, but we will be shut down until Monday. Rollin has done some work on the old canoe he was working on. He added some ribs and has begun to replace some planks. I have completed the hull of the Shell Lake duck boat.(seen here) I will do some final clinching and then I'll wet it down to swell the hammer marks. Next I will move on to the Old Town Ideal.(on the left) I will be replacing some ribs. It needs very little planking. Both of these boats will be in the paint room next week for varnish and oil and the end of next week or early the next we will canvas them.

On Monday I will be working on replacing the stems in Peter Vigues canoe.  Last week Peter replaced the stems in a Duck Boat for Craig Carter and the stems in a Old Town canoe for James Baxter.  We seem to have a rash of boats with bad stems.  Its not easy replacing the stems  but if the replacement stem is bent correctly , it makes the whole process a bit easier. Each of these stems are bent to their own custom shape with a custom jig made to accommodate that shape.
Please note that the web address for he web cam has changed.  It is now: http://www.wooden-canoes.com/~nw68go/ 
Its kind of a awkward address and I'm working to get more common sense one but its all greek to me!

Today we are replacing ribs in several canoes. the ribs have already been steam bend and dried over the outside of the canoes. Now we have to remove the broken ribs, clean up the wood  and install the new ribs.

Doesn't look any different, but the second and third coat have been applied and rubbed. Once it dries a little more it will get a final rubbing by hand. Before I do that I have to bend a few ribs on the canoe in the background on the right.

sorry we seem to be experiencing technical difficulties. For some reason the camera is down. check in again later or tomorrow.

So the first coat of filler has been applied and rubbed. Now a second and third coat will be applied simultaneously.

The Canvas was fastened at the rail. Now the  canoe will be released from the sling and the ends will be closed up.

Today we will be canvasing a closed gunwale Old Town OTCA. This boat was built around 1910. It was in fairly good shape but we still have 50 hours of work in the boat to this stage. After the boat is canvas a heavy gray filler coat is hand rubbed into the weave of the canvas.
Tune in and watch!

Tuesday Work

here we are

Steve Chase made me do it