Kevin Callan in a birchbark

Ferdy is correct -- There is no birch bark in the featured canoe. The construction is, nonetheless, quite interesting. I wrote the following to the canoe builder inquiring about the construction:

I would like to learn about the material used for the hull of your canoes. A video that is on You Tube -- "A Wilderness Canoe Journey - past . . . present . . . future" -- featuring one of your canoes was posted on the forums of the website of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association.

The comment accompanying the video identifies the canoe as one built by you, characterizing it as a "birchbark replica." But one of our members, who is a well-known and skilled builder of birchbark canoes, states "It's not a real one though...it's not made using birch bark."

Checking your website, I find that you describe the hull material as "laminated birch." Presumably, then, it is not birch bark, and you do not make any claim that the canoe is a bark canoe. I and, I am sure, many of our members would appreciate learning more about the "laminated birch" used to construct your quite attractive canoes. Perhaps you could post a reply on our forums.

I recently received the following reply from Roberto Corradi -- <robert@northern-sound.co.uk> --

Dear Gregory ,

I have just found you in our Deleted Box , I don't know how you ended up there but you did . However , belated , to answer , I hope , some of your questions and give you a bit of history/background .

1 / We make the hull from a lamination of birch veneers which and by this very process ensures that between each veneer is an impermeable membrane ( not the case with birch bark which can and does de-laminate on occasion ) .

2 / Sheathing is usually red , sometimes white cedar ...... Thwarts , usually cedar but the ones used on Kevin's canoe are made from cherry if my memory serves me correctly . ( doesn't always ) All the finishing oils we use are ' natural ' not synthetic and any applied colours are home made using a combination of earth pigments and again , natural oils .

3 / Lashings , here we use a combination of Spruce and split willow ( as used by my Nordic ancestors ..... and their craft managed to navigate that stretch of water between our two shores pretty well ) As a rule we usual ' pickle ' the root and split willow in oak tannin . We produce the tannin in exactly the same way as is done for traditional leather tanning .

4 / The mention of ' your quite attractive canoes ' ..................... Only one answer here ..... ' Form follows Function '

5 / Not Real ...... No we do not use birch bark ( see 1 above ) but in every sense and meaning and in the true spirit of craftsmanship the canoe is built with the materials we have to hand in the present century and the canoe is built upon the piece of land we happen to standing on at the present time ...... does your learned member use flint tools to construct his canoes , I would guess not . You can always argue the case ' What's Real ' , but for who , when and what century are we pertaining towards , how do we conceptualize and are we sometimes all a bit ' fogged ' by a romantic image of ' The Past ' .

A laminated birch hull provides for a very stiff / responsive and light , strong hull with very ' Green ' credentials . A laminated hull makes for the fullest use of a tree , not the case for birch bark hull .

6 / My background ........... Fully trained and apprenticed cabinet maker for about a hundred years now + Degree in Furniture Design .......... you could take a look at my furniture website ... www.Corradiltd.com .

I also make Long Bows , traditional historical arrows , most with goose and turkey fletching . I am also occasionally called on to flint nap when making an historical arrows requiring flint heads from your neck of the woods .

My best regards ,
Roberto Corradi ..........

and just in case you were wondering where the ' Nordic ' bit came in , my mother's side of the family ( Erikson ) were Danish and all connected to fishing and way back ..... to Clipper Ships and earlier sea travel .

Postscript ........... Glad to help if you would like any more information .
 
This sounds more like a "cold molded" canoe but..

can someone provide clarification.... what part is the "hull" that is laminated (birch wood) and what is the "sheathing" (red or white cedar)??

"1 / We make the hull from a lamination of birch veneers....

2 / Sheathing is usually red , sometimes white cedar..... "
 
This is just my observation, but if you look at the video at 19-21 seconds, and again at 33-40 seconds (and probably other places), it appears that planking or sheathing and ribs have been fitted to the inside the laminated hull. Without knowing how thick the planking and ribs and the laminated hull itself are, I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to how much, if anything at all, each of these components contributes to the overall strength of the hull.

Greg
 
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