Building a Miller Canoe
By Bill Miller
© 1997 All Rights Reserved
Canoes must be made from well seasoned wood, Eastern White Cedar for all the ribs and planking, and I like White or Black Spruce for the gunwales. Many canoes are made using hardwood, ash, oak and cherry gunwales, but it adds precious weight to the canoe, and I don't think the hardwoods hold the shape of a canoe better than Spruce. Besides spruce is more plentiful, and less expensive. The thwarts, seats, and decks are made from various hardwoods, ash, oak, maple, beech, birch or birds eye maple. The lumber must be seasoned approximately 18 months for the hardwoods, and 12 months or more for the softwoods. I have a portable band sawmill set up to saw all my own lumber, which is cut nearby usually in the winter, and yarded out of the woods by snowmobile, thus keeping the log free of mud and rocks, which are darn hard on saw blades....besides that there are no mosquitoes or blackflies in the winter!!!
The traditional wood canvas canoes are built on a form or model that looks like a canoe. It has strips of galvanized steel around the form, which serve as a guide to place the ribs evenly together, and they help clinch the brass tacks that will be used to fasten the planking. The first lumber to get ready is the spruce gunwales, they are sawn out on a table saw in long strips usually 1 1/4" square, then run through a surface planer and sized to one inch wide and 7/8 thick (depending on the size of the canoe and degree of ruggedness desired). The ribs are then cut out on the table saw in lengths up to 5 feet or so, and the width according to the size you want and thickness of 1/2 inch. The ribs are then planed, first the edges, then the top. The ribs have a taper to them... thicker on the bottom and thinner as they curve up the sides. You can spend nearly a whole day just making all the ribs, rounding the edges, etc. Then they are soaked in water for several hours before steaming. Meanwhile the gunwales are placed on the model held in place with "C" clamps every 30 inches or so. The stems are then selected. They have been pre bent on a form using steam, and have been drying out for probably 6 months or more, so the shape you see will last forever. Making the stems is where you separate the men from the boys. I do it all by eye, putting a taper on them, and cutting out the notches where the ribs pass. The stems are ash and are about a shade over one inch square to start with. When they are ready, place them on the model in the slots designed to hold them in place on the ends of the model. By then the ribs are wet enough, and the steamer all ready for them. The ribs only have to be steamed for 15 or twenty minutes or so before they become very flexible. By this time I have gone out to the road and stopped the first car going by to come in and help bend ribs!!! It is necessary to have someone on both sides of the model, and the ribs are bent at the same time. It usually only takes twenty minutes or so to bend all the ribs, especially if I have stopped the same car and they know what to do!!! Bending the ribs is a most pleasing part of canoe building, it goes fast, and you can see the canoe taking shape.
The planking is then applied by using brass canoe tacks. The planks are usually 3 and 3/4" wide and several feet long, and approx. 3/16ths thick (depending on the degree of ruggedness desired). The garboard planks usually have to be soaked in hot water, and are quarter sawn so they will conform to the sharp curve of the bow. It is very important when pounding the tacks to get them going in at an exact 90 degree angle, so the tip of the tack hits the steel band perfectly...if it does not the tack just glances off and will not "clinch" properly. There is a lot of fitting to planking in a canoe due to its design, and takes a lot of patience..
When you get to the sheer plank, save it for later and take the shell off the model. Gently remove all the "c" clamps, and gently pull outwards until the gunwales are out of the groove. It is time to go stop another car going by to have help in taking the shell off the form (although I do take it off alone lots of times, many tourists love to be asked!!!)
Now you have a basic shape of a wooden canoe. First the ends of the ribs must be trimmed off, sanded, then use some means to get the lines correct. I use nylon cargo ratchet clamps to pull in the sides every three feet or so, just about where the thwarts go.. The brass tacks need to be "clinched" using an iron especially shaped. This is the hardest and most miserable job in canoe building. You need long arms, and a strong back!!! The thwarts are carved and ready to be installed, by this time, then the decks installed. If the sheer plank is not already put in, it needs to be!. The sheer plank is trimmed a good 3/8 of an inch down from the gunwale to allow for the groove on the outside gunwale. Seats can be installed, but I prefer to do that after the three coats of varnish. When all the woodwork is finished, The hull is ready to be sanded, and the canvas stretched on. There is more than one way to do that, I use the traditional method of stretching the canvas end to end, and placing the shell inside and then stretching the canvas around tightly using a canvas stretcher tool similar to what an upholsterer uses. The canvas is fastened to the center of the ribs 1/2 inches from the top. I use staples, then when all the wrinkles are out put in brass tacks, and fasten the ends...that is a true test of patience!!! The filler is then applied, and hand rubbed in. The canoe must be air dried for about three months till the filler cures, then the interior is sanded, outside gunwales applied, and the hull is painted two coats, the interior gets a coat of boiled linseed oil, then three coats of marine spar varnish, sanded between coats, then the outside hull gets the third coat of paint, and the brass banging irons or butt rods are installed, and a name plate on the deck. The seats are installed, having been previously fitted and varnished.
Stand back and admire it. There are about 75 hours in building a 16 foot canoe, but if it is done right it will last a lifetime, possibly several if well taken care of. Maintenance of a wooden canoe is relatively easy, and a labor of love.
So now the call of the loon is beckoning you....head for your favorite place and paddle to your heart's content.....Happy paddling
If you have any questions that need answering, call or write:
Bill MillerMiller Canoes
RR#1 Nictau
Plaster Rock, N.B. E0J 1W0
Canada
Phone 506-356-2409
Fax 506-356-2580
Email: canoe@nbnet.nb.ca
Navigation Aids