Ken Cupery
Fan of the 19th Century
In the 1880's Racine made a canoe laminated from sheets of what appears to have been a thick veneer. I've seen them referenced a number of times in period publications. A brief article in Scientific American notes:
“It is made of birch, cherry, or cedar, according to the taste of the purchaser. Three sheets of the wood are cemented together with the grain of the inner sheet crossing the grain of the outer sheets, and the whole, while green, is pressed into the desired form under heavy pressure, making a body with but a single seam under the keel.”
Sort of a cold moulding process for that era.
I am guessing that the use of a 19th century glue in this environment may have consigned these craft to the same fate as Waters' paper canoes. That old devil moisture eventually won out. Hence, I'd expect to find few if any of this construction to have survived.
I've cast about for these craft in modern museums. Are there any out there that people know of? I must admit my interest is more academic than practical.
Ken
“It is made of birch, cherry, or cedar, according to the taste of the purchaser. Three sheets of the wood are cemented together with the grain of the inner sheet crossing the grain of the outer sheets, and the whole, while green, is pressed into the desired form under heavy pressure, making a body with but a single seam under the keel.”
Sort of a cold moulding process for that era.
I am guessing that the use of a 19th century glue in this environment may have consigned these craft to the same fate as Waters' paper canoes. That old devil moisture eventually won out. Hence, I'd expect to find few if any of this construction to have survived.
I've cast about for these craft in modern museums. Are there any out there that people know of? I must admit my interest is more academic than practical.
Ken
