Cesar's canoe

Many of the great old canoe builders have passed on but there are still quite a number up here in the boonies of Canada. There are a couple right near me who learned from the Algonquin masters. One of the big problems is there are few big birch left so many of the new canoes must be pieced together. Check out the work of Henri Vaillancourt who learned from many of the old builders. http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/builder.htm

Great post, one of my all time favourites.

Best regards

Robin
 
This man even puts Ray Mears to shame! What a great video. Nice post...Skills this high will be none existent before long. Just imagine the trial and error process to finally get this right. Incredible.
 
omniviking said:
Thanks for the link, howw just have to find time to watch it.
Click to expand...

It's well worth it, believe me.

Things that strike me:

1. His axe is tiny; his resolve is not. He's not even using a full-sized felling axe for that tree, and he makes it look extremely easy. It doesn't look like he's exerting himself too much, which in my humble opinion is the key. Let the axe do the work.

2. The rest of his tools are simple, but they are used with great skill and they are suited for the roles that they fill. An axe for felling, a pocketknife for "skinning" the tree, a crooked knife for carving, a longer THIN fixed blade for splitting and trimming, and a lil' gimlet for drilling holes.

3. Batoning his fixed blade with a hammer! :eek::eek::eek:

Great video

Frosty
 
I make these crooked knives up for a couple of bark canoe builders up here in the boonies.

Regards

Robin

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Frostyfingers said:
It's well worth it, believe me.

Things that strike me:

1. His axe is tiny; his resolve is not. He's not even using a full-sized felling axe for that tree, and he makes it look extremely easy. It doesn't look like he's exerting himself too much, which in my humble opinion is the key. Let the axe do the work.

2. The rest of his tools are simple, but they are used with great skill and they are suited for the roles that they fill. An axe for felling, a pocketknife for "skinning" the tree, a crooked knife for carving, a longer THIN fixed blade for splitting and trimming, and a lil' gimlet for drilling holes.

3. Batoning his fixed blade with a hammer! :eek::eek::eek:

Great video

Frosty
Click to expand...

i like your dissection.
i saw the same thing as the old guy chopped the big Birch tree:D, no sweat, no fast chopping, all deliberate action
and his axe was just right for the job.
all his tools are "of a purpose"

i am glad you guys enjoyed this video.
i've watched it several times, never ceases to amaze me. :eek:
in these days and times almost everything is manufactured
nice to know art and function are still alive.

buzz
 
i'm glad the video has some value for tool users.
not exactly a ton of axe work going on but the whole episode is worth watching for its interesting use of hand tools,

imho.

buzz
 
Boy that was an excellent watch. He could certainly use his tools like a master, which he is. No measuring, mostly just feel and eyeball, cut, carve, hew, etc.

How about when he was making the oars, and at the start, with making the rouch shape, he is chopping literally an inch away from his hand, and not flinching a bit.

What is in the water that he used to get the wood hot and wet in order to bend it? I guess I missed it if it was stated. Water looked very dark and hot, yet he always grabbed the wood right after soaking.

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing.
 
Markv, thanks for the post, what a great video. I love the part where he walks up and unrolls the bark
 
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Awesome documentary. Thanks much for the link, my dad and I sat down and watched it through the other night. He really appreciated it. I'm sharing this with the experimental archaeology club along with the recently posted Modern Marvels axe episode. Maybe we should post a thread with cool youtube links? I can think of some neat axecraft demos on youtube that would be worth the watch.
 
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