Torching....

[chris pearson]

Do you guys still singe canvas before filling? Mark and Andy, I know you do, just looked at your FB post!

 

[Dan Miller]

Nope.

 

[dtdcanoes]

NOPE X ad infinitum. I couldn't sleep with the image of a square inch of smoldering canvas at 2 am. Lets just say I think the fuzz is good tooth and I sleep great. And when I wet sand I can easily see where I have been. All good. " It's your canoe, do what you want. " doesn't apply here, me thinks.
And same for the oil soaked rags in the old paint can.
Dave

 

[patrick corry]

I do. When I canvassed my first canoe I read that singeing was the thing to do... so I did and have done since.
Here's a Chestnut Chum freshly cooked and brushed with a stiff bristle brush, then vacuumed. I guess maybe I should re-think it?

 

[Gil Cramer]

no.

 

[Michael Grace]

No, not in many years. I worry about an edge thread burning up into the canvas, and I found that it simply isn't necessary. After filler cures, there is very little fuzz, and what there may be left is easily sanded off. So NOT singing saves time, is safer, and apparently is unnecessary.

 

[JClearwater]

I do not sing the canvas anymore. I did back in the day as recommended in Jerry and Rollin's book but now with the mildew treated canvas I worry about putting fungicide into the air I will be breathing while I'm using the torch. I also worried all night whether I'll have a shop in the morning after using a torch on the canoe in a building filled with wood, other canoes, paint etc. etc.

 

[Todd F]

After 10 of 14 deployments to areas with burn pits I figure I am toast as far as exposure, however I do like to comments about a smoldering thread combusting the shop.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Nope! Years ago I smelled something burning. I thought it was outside. I stepped out to look around and when I turned to go back in the shop I saw ther orange glow coming from my customer's recently singed canvas canoe. A single thread was lit like a candle wick.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

I seem to recall a war canoe that I assisted Gil and Skip with and it wasn't given the torch treatment either.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Nyet. any fuzz sands off with the epoxy these days.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Never did - just didn't like the risk.

 

[Mark Giovannetti]

As Chris pointed out we still do but I certainly understand all the concerns. The one thing we do is leave plenty of excess material hanging past the inwale so the flame never gets close to the edge. I will say I'm a little surprised with Andre ( who I don't know and have never met) not singeing. It says Firestarter. Wicked Firestarter under his name. Thought he'd be a torcher for sure.

 

[Gil Cramer]

A long time ago, I singed half of a canoe and not the other half. After filling and curing, I could not tell which half had been singed. Granted, when i used to singe the canvas, I once had a wicked fire that I fortunately extinguished before it burnt higher than the outwale would cover.