15' Chestnut canoe

[davelanthier]

In the process of restoring a 15' Chestnut canoe. Due to it's construction, patina, high ends, 32" beam and 4 digit serial number [ 6492 ] I suspect it is a circa 1920 Twozer. I remember seeing somewhere a date as to when Chestnut went from the 4 to the 5 digit serial number. Anyone know when that was or in fact if it actually happened?

 

[Graham]

Hi Dave, Dick can correct me on this, but when I asked him the same question this summer, he mentioned he thought the stem numbers were started by George Birch when he went to manage Chestnut from Peterborough in 1955.

My older Chestnut doesn't have one. But my newer one does, although I'd thought it was slightly older than '55. It does have flat heart shaped decks, wide planks, the standard decal, and robertson screws - unlike the older one - so maybe mine is that young.

 

[Dick Persson]

The majority of older Chestnut canoes (before the W.W.II) were never marked with a serial number.

Those that later on were marked, used different schemes over the years. Some are strictly numbers; others include letters like “P”, and “C” as well as model names or part names like OGILV, FREIGHT and GUIDE.
A more consistent use of serial numbers was ushered in by George Birch when he took over the reins of the Chestnut Canoe Co in 1955. No records are known to survive, so we cannot learn anything from the numbers themselves.

Dick Persson
Buckhorn Canoe Company
www.buckhorncanoes.com