Worth Gretter
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Lovely!
Brodbeck Progress
- Thread starter JClearwater
- Start date
patrick corry
solo canoeist
Well done. The color of the interior is just beautiful, and the projected paint scheme sounds promising. I suspect we will soon see a handsome finished canoe!
OP
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
For those of us interested in such things I received from the cemetery superintendant at the Brookdale Cemetery, Dedham, MA, photos of the headstone for Fred Brodbeck, his wife Minna, his brother and sister.
The stone reads, "Frederick Brodbeck, 1870-1930, his wife Minna L.K., 1872-1951, Herman Brodbeck, 1866-1940, his wife Bertha E., 1874-1960." On the opposite side of the stone is Fred's sister Emilie and her husband, "John Fuchs, died October 30, 1887, age 34 years 4 months, his wife Emilie, 1860-1950." Fred, Herman and Emilie were siblings. Fred and his widowed sister with her daughter lived together on Washington Street, West Roxbury.
The stone reads, "Frederick Brodbeck, 1870-1930, his wife Minna L.K., 1872-1951, Herman Brodbeck, 1866-1940, his wife Bertha E., 1874-1960." On the opposite side of the stone is Fred's sister Emilie and her husband, "John Fuchs, died October 30, 1887, age 34 years 4 months, his wife Emilie, 1860-1950." Fred, Herman and Emilie were siblings. Fred and his widowed sister with her daughter lived together on Washington Street, West Roxbury.
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
I don't know why the photo placement and size is balled up in the post above - I must have done something wrong. I guess I partied too much during the '70s.
Work continues on the canoe. Paint almost done. Stay tuned.
Jim
Work continues on the canoe. Paint almost done. Stay tuned.
Jim
OP
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
Ok, so I got the paint done. Kirby #6 Ivory on the top and #13 Blind Green on the bottom with black added to make it darker still. There will be a pinstripe between the two colors and some art work as well. I still have a ways to go - I have to make and install the gunwale caps and side caps, stem bands, install the seats and center thwart and one more coat of varnish on the inside. Should be time to get it all done before Assembly even with a vacation in the middle. The photo suggests that the line between the colors is a level water line. That is not the case. It curves upward as it approaches the stem.
Stay tuned.
Jim
Stay tuned.
Jim
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Michael Grace
Lifetime Member
Looking fabulous, Jim! Love your custom green and the woodwork is very impressive.
OP
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
I am working on the gunwale caps and side caps. I bought a 20' 4 quarter clear Sitka Spruce plank from Condon Lumber and ripped out two 1" square pieces. I ran those through the table saw to get four strips. Then through the planner to get them the right thickness. I had to do all of it outside because I needed 20' each side of the table saw and planner. My shop is not 40' long. Working by myself I set up multiple saw horses and rollers to help the run in and catch the run out. I managed to get it done with out breaking any of the strips. At this point I have three of the four shaped. The photo attached shows why you can never have too many clamps!
Note on the left side how the top edge of the canvas tucks in tight to the inwale. This is because Brodbeck feathered thin the top edge of the shear plank and actually left a gap between the top of the plank and the bottom of the inwale. This will allow the side cap to also lay tight into the inwale and make the entire gunwale assembly visually lighter. Aesthetics was important. Life is too short to paddle an ugly canoe! It was true then and still true today.
Cheers,
Jim
Note on the left side how the top edge of the canvas tucks in tight to the inwale. This is because Brodbeck feathered thin the top edge of the shear plank and actually left a gap between the top of the plank and the bottom of the inwale. This will allow the side cap to also lay tight into the inwale and make the entire gunwale assembly visually lighter. Aesthetics was important. Life is too short to paddle an ugly canoe! It was true then and still true today.
Cheers,
Jim
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Gary
Canoe Grampa
Jim, Wow impressive milling that alone, nice job! I worked part time for my friend who owns a lumber mill and he always asked me to help him rip long stock as apparently I can walk backwards straight??? We had a tough time doing it as a pair let all alone.
Looks like you've a nice shop from the background in the picture above?
I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pictures of the Brodbeck, thanks for posting.
Gary
Looks like you've a nice shop from the background in the picture above?
I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pictures of the Brodbeck, thanks for posting.
Gary
chris pearson
Michigan Canoe Nut
Jim, are you steaming them at all? I can’t without it.
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
They bend on ok except at the ends. I'm going to have to steam the final 2.5 ft. or so of the top cap in order to make the shallow 'S' curve as it runs past the deck and same with the side caps so they bend up tight under the top cap. I have not settled on how to do it yet. I'm thinking using the plastic bag/tube method and do one cap at a time. I sent for some double headed tacks - mini version of the double headed nails concrete guys use to nail forms together that later need to come apart. They are actually picture hanging nails. They are coming from China so Lord only knows when I'll get them. The idea being that I can nail the caps on tightly yet still remove them if I break one or otherwise screw it up. Being double headed I will not bugger up the soft spruce trying to pull the nails. When all done I'll remove them one at a time and replace with the brass escutcheon nails. That's my thinking at this point. Maybe the way to do it is simply to steam the entire cap in a plastic bag and nail it in place removing the steam bag as I proceed along. I'm open to suggestions but at the moment I have to go mow the lawn for the first time this season.
Jim
Jim
OP
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JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
At long last the old girl is finally finished. We named it Minna. Minna was Fred Brodbeck’s wife. Their marriage certificate lists her name as Minnie, like the mouse, but on the family headstone It reads Minna so that’s what we went with. Maybe we should have named it Lazarus because the canoe really did come back from the dead – I mean seriously dead.
Finished pictures below. You will have to scroll back to the first post to see how it started out. I should have done some things differently and others could have been done better but in the main it came out pretty good. The Brodbeck bloodline ended with Fred’s generation. Fred and Minna never had children. His brother Herman never had any either. His sister Emily had a daughter Anna who married Harry D. Nay. They had a son Malcolm Nay who married but they had no children. So the only thing left with the Brodbeck name is the canoes he left behind. I hope I did right by Fred and he would be pleased with the result.
As an amendment to the previous post concerning the gunwale caps – I bent them on dry until I got to the point where if I bent them more they would most certainly break. I then slid the hose from an old shop vac over the last three feet or more, connected it to my steam pot and let it cook for half an hour. I removed the hose and bent and nailed the cap into place. I did the top caps first and then the side caps. After all four on each end were installed I worked them together until I was happy with the resulting joints. I used dome headed escutcheon pins to nail them in place. Based on the old nail holes in the inwale Fred set the nails at about 5.5” inches apart until he reached the decks. Then the nails gradually became closer together until the end was reached. It’s also interesting that there were two nails set only 2” apart, one on each side of the center thwart. I have no idea why other than maybe aesthetics. I stained and varnished the caps, added the last coat of ivory topcoat paint and considered my work done. The pinstripe guy came, did his magic and now it's really done.
The Brodbeck nameplate on his early canoes is thin nickel plated brass. I presume the original stem bands were also originally nickel plated but of course were long gone before I got the canoe. I reinstalled the nameplate and declared Victory.
I bought this canoe in May 2025 and with the exception of waiting for filler to dry, a vacation and the affairs of general living I worked on it fairly steadily for the past 14 months. Good thing I’m not trying to make a living at this business.
Jean and I will be bringing Minna to Assembly and will reintroduce her to the water again.
Many thanks to everyone with suggestions and help especially, Benson Gray, Bill Conrad, Zack Smith, Chris Pearson and Michael Grace.
Paddles Up!!
Jim
Finished pictures below. You will have to scroll back to the first post to see how it started out. I should have done some things differently and others could have been done better but in the main it came out pretty good. The Brodbeck bloodline ended with Fred’s generation. Fred and Minna never had children. His brother Herman never had any either. His sister Emily had a daughter Anna who married Harry D. Nay. They had a son Malcolm Nay who married but they had no children. So the only thing left with the Brodbeck name is the canoes he left behind. I hope I did right by Fred and he would be pleased with the result.
As an amendment to the previous post concerning the gunwale caps – I bent them on dry until I got to the point where if I bent them more they would most certainly break. I then slid the hose from an old shop vac over the last three feet or more, connected it to my steam pot and let it cook for half an hour. I removed the hose and bent and nailed the cap into place. I did the top caps first and then the side caps. After all four on each end were installed I worked them together until I was happy with the resulting joints. I used dome headed escutcheon pins to nail them in place. Based on the old nail holes in the inwale Fred set the nails at about 5.5” inches apart until he reached the decks. Then the nails gradually became closer together until the end was reached. It’s also interesting that there were two nails set only 2” apart, one on each side of the center thwart. I have no idea why other than maybe aesthetics. I stained and varnished the caps, added the last coat of ivory topcoat paint and considered my work done. The pinstripe guy came, did his magic and now it's really done.
The Brodbeck nameplate on his early canoes is thin nickel plated brass. I presume the original stem bands were also originally nickel plated but of course were long gone before I got the canoe. I reinstalled the nameplate and declared Victory.
I bought this canoe in May 2025 and with the exception of waiting for filler to dry, a vacation and the affairs of general living I worked on it fairly steadily for the past 14 months. Good thing I’m not trying to make a living at this business.
Jean and I will be bringing Minna to Assembly and will reintroduce her to the water again.
Many thanks to everyone with suggestions and help especially, Benson Gray, Bill Conrad, Zack Smith, Chris Pearson and Michael Grace.
Paddles Up!!
Jim
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Michael Grace
Lifetime Member
Gorgeous, Jim! Fred would be extremely pleased, I'm sure. Can't wait to see Minna at Assembly
patrick corry
solo canoeist
What a lovely restoration! Congratulations.
