JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
Friends,
A years worth of free time and it's finally done. 1906+/- Rushton Indian Girl canoe, 16'. It came from a warehouse in the Bronx where is was used as a theater prop. Last used in the play Hiawatha and painted to look like a birchbark. Advertised on Craigslist. Russ Padden went to NYC to get it. I stripped the interior of two coats of green paint plus black paint, red paint, yellow paint and white paint as well as the original varnish, replaced 19 ribs (there are 45 total), made backside repairs on 5 others, repaired the tips of 10 others, 15' of new planking, broken inwales replaced with new pocketed cherry inwales, replaced the top 1/3 of both stems, new seat frames and one new thwart, spliced in new tips on all four ends of the original outwales, new floor rack, stain, varnish, canvas, filler, primer, two tone paint, new stem bands and deck hardware. Epifanes gloss followed by Epifanes Matte varnish inside, McCloskey's semi-gloss on gunwales, seats, decks and thwarts. Kirby custom paint colors on exterior. The only thing I did not do myself was the pinstripe, graphics and lettering. Attached are a couple of "before" pictures and the finished product. Outside photos look a little washed out, don't know why. Our daughter Leslie is making a video of the resurrection (as opposed to restoration because it was truly dead) and for those of you who will be at the WCHA Assembly next week at Paul Smith's College can see the video Wednesday night, July 13.
See you next week,
Jim & Jean
A years worth of free time and it's finally done. 1906+/- Rushton Indian Girl canoe, 16'. It came from a warehouse in the Bronx where is was used as a theater prop. Last used in the play Hiawatha and painted to look like a birchbark. Advertised on Craigslist. Russ Padden went to NYC to get it. I stripped the interior of two coats of green paint plus black paint, red paint, yellow paint and white paint as well as the original varnish, replaced 19 ribs (there are 45 total), made backside repairs on 5 others, repaired the tips of 10 others, 15' of new planking, broken inwales replaced with new pocketed cherry inwales, replaced the top 1/3 of both stems, new seat frames and one new thwart, spliced in new tips on all four ends of the original outwales, new floor rack, stain, varnish, canvas, filler, primer, two tone paint, new stem bands and deck hardware. Epifanes gloss followed by Epifanes Matte varnish inside, McCloskey's semi-gloss on gunwales, seats, decks and thwarts. Kirby custom paint colors on exterior. The only thing I did not do myself was the pinstripe, graphics and lettering. Attached are a couple of "before" pictures and the finished product. Outside photos look a little washed out, don't know why. Our daughter Leslie is making a video of the resurrection (as opposed to restoration because it was truly dead) and for those of you who will be at the WCHA Assembly next week at Paul Smith's College can see the video Wednesday night, July 13.
See you next week,
Jim & Jean
