Liz and I have been slogging through Canoe Building Course updates for the last few weeks so I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything creative, but the rib bending videos from last year are still pretty solid so we made this time lapse instead (check out the music!)
The secret to my canoe shapes are the sometimes elaborate rib length formulas, but the secret to actually bending those ribs has very little to do with skill and everything to do with starting with really good bending oak. My two favorite suppliers for this are J. W. Swan & Sons in the Midwest, and Zena Forest Products here in Oregon. Both understand exactly the quality of wood that is needed to bend like this.
At roughly $10 a bf and nearly as much to ship, freshly sawn, clear, straight grained white oak isn’t the cheapest wood, but honestly I would probably still buy it if it cost twice as much. Makes the build go smoothly and keeps stress levels to a minimum. Actual time elapsed here is 30 minutes.
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