Inside canoe refurbishment

[jaygolf]

I have read many of the threads regarding how to remove all varnish/lacquers from the inside of the canoes. I cannot remember if this option came up or not so I will ask.
Would it be possible to blast the interior with some sort of walnut hulls or other material specifically designed for such applications?

 

[Benson Gray]

Would it be possible to blast the interior with some sort of walnut hulls or other material specifically designed for such applications?

Yes, this is possible but cedar is so soft that you may not be happy with the results. It has been done but I don't know anyone who would consider doing it twice. I would encourage you to test it out on a discardable sample first.

Benson

 

[jaygolf]

I am not going against the experience. Thank you for the prompt answer, it appears I will be going the traditional route of remover/scraping.
Thanks again Benson.

 

[Michael Grace]

There's a reason the traditional approaches are still traditional. So often people try to reinvent some aspect (or all aspects!) of the process, despite good advice about tried and true approaches, even when people say they've compared options and came back to a traditional approach.

I'm currently stripping a 1922 cedar-canvas canoe that has been a bear to get fully clean, partly because the old multi-layered finish is very hard, far harder than the cedar underneath. Shell blasting enough to get the finish off would have been disastrous on the cedar.

 

[Benson Gray]

This topic has come up before as shown at the link below.

Benson

Post in thread 'Two unrelated questions.'

Feb 12, 2010

media blasting

In a word, DON'T DO IT. Once owned a beautiful Peterborough that the former owner had blasted, using walnut shell media if i remember - screwed the interior up and looked like driftwood. Glass, plastic, steel, nut shells, are all to aggressive at the psi you need to lift paint. It relieves the cedar like those house signs they make, with the raised wood and blasted backgrounds. Used to work for a blast company, if you dont believe me get some old cedar and give her a hit at about 60 or 70psi and you'll see the results. Soda will make an unbelievable mess, and doubt...

• Andre Cloutier

 

[cwf]

I scraped the inside of my cedar strip, a Strickland and it was hard work and tough on the back. The result was the softer part of the wood (summer growth) was removed more than the harder part (thin, winter). When I tried some paint remover under the decks, where it was hard to scrape, I feel the surface of the cedar was less 'damaged'. The negative bit of the story is that you have a sticky mess to clear out.

Charlie.

 

[Worth Gretter]

I used soda blasting but stopped when someone suggested it would raise the grain. He was right. Actually it eroded the softer part of the grain, but the effect is the same.

 

[Michael Grace]

Yes, there' a mess to clean out when using chemical strippers, but it is doable and doing so properly doesn't result in permanent damage to the canoe's structure. Unfortunately that poor old Strickland will forever be damaged. You can never put that missing cedar back where it once was. I'm not trying to be harsh, and what's done is done. But a little extra work prevents forever damage. There are always easier ways of doing things, but at what cost?

I'm currently working on a restoration of a canoe that would have been a true stunner if it weren't for the fact that someone some time ago gouged up the interior with a misguided refinishing. It looks like blasting may have been used or maybe a pressure washer, and also some kind of very heavy-handed scraping, all of which seriously damaged both ribs and planking from bow to stern, and the damage cannot be fixed. If it weren't for these things, this extremely well made 100-plus-year-old canoe could have been restored to near-mint condition, but not now and not ever again. This is the owner's only wooden canoe so he may never appreciate what it could have been... but every time I look at it, it makes me frustrated and sad.

 

[dtdcanoes]

OYE....I feel sanctioned, so went out to take a look at my Strickland. It looks beautiful , like an old cello.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Funny thing about "sanctioned". It can have two different and opposite meanings.
And....there's always room for Cello.

 

[cwf]

It's true, that Strickland is forever 'damaged', but... it still exists, after 120 years; it's still used; it's in much better shape than it was. And, it was built to be used. There is 'value' (not just monetary) in something that is as good as when it was made 100 or more years ago, but, personally, I enjoy something old that shows it has had a life, an old house, a car, a book, a toy.

I don't know if you ever see Antiques Roadshow or an equivalent, but I always roll my eyes when an expert says' Yes but it's such a pity this book, this toy shows signs of use.' Well, of course it does, that's what it was for.

But, as you point out, it's always possible to restore things better.

 

[Michael Grace]

Hi Charlie. It was not my intention to be harsh or accusatory. None of these things are going to last forever and their demise comes in many different ways. It's great that you appreciate what you have and enjoy using it. These forums are all about learning and sharing, you've come here in that spirit, and people are offering their experiences in that spirit. Glad you're here, and glad you shared your experience for the benefit of others.

 

[cwf]

Don't worry Michael, like many people here, I've been happy doing things my own way for years. I've mostly been involved with mechanical rather than wooden things but I've had the feeling that restoring something to museum quality has become an orthodoxy - one 'should' do such and such.

Incidentally, I've been looking at 'Punch' magazine, a British weekly that commented in prose and cartoon form on social habits from 1841 to 2002. I was looking for how the wooden canoe was portrayed in the late C19th, early C20th. In a general sense, what struck me was that, in the UK and perhaps Europe, the canoe was a purely leisure item to begin with, whereas in North America it was much more of a tool, a method for trade and exploration and an important part of your early history.

Charlie.