Fellow boat builders and woodworkers: my friend Ben Deumling of Zena Forest Products has some of the nicest white oak logs we’ve ever seen right now. (make sure you look at the second video showing the cut boards) Ben owns a small sustainably harvested forest here in Oregon and is dedicated to finding the...
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The ash oar prayer
The ash oar prayer: “Dear lord, although I am definitely a sinner and I never says hi unless I need something or I’m in trouble, I humbly request that you bless these oars and use your almighty Magic Powers to smite the hidden tensile forces of Satan that lie hidden in every ash board...
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A visit to the Zena Forest Products mill
Zena Forest Products is a second generation sustainable forest/sawmill here in the Willamette Valley. Of all the oak they cut less than 2% is suitable for steam bending. Over the years I’ve watched so much of this scarce resource chopped into pallet wood and industrial blocking by careless saw mills, so I really appreciate...
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Video: The Parks planer devouring some reclaimed fir
With a steady diet of silica and tannic acid working with bending Oak and reclaimed Douglas Fir is a mouthful for any planer. This direct drive 1942 Parks planer chows down....
I never take for granted the quality of the wood that I’m privileged to work with
I never take for granted the quality of the wood that I’m privileged to work with. The Oregon white oak I use is in my opinion, the king of steam bending woods, it is tough, rot resistant and bends like butter after a short steaming time. I buy this stuff from Zena Forest Products,...
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Coating the skin
Coating the skin. I use a 9oz ballistic nylon skin on most of my boats, coated with a 2-part polyurethane - aka "goop". It takes a few hours to apply a few coats of goop, cures for 24 - 48 hours, and done....
Turning yesterday’s houses into tomorrow’s canoes
Turning yesterday’s houses into tomorrow’s canoes... Old growth fir from old Portland homes salvaged by the Rebuilding Center becomes the keel, lower stringers, and rub strips of two lightweight canoes headed to Everest with The Weight We Carry....
Canoe framing
Canoe framing: white oak ribs and yellow cedar keel and bottom stringers for strength, red cedar top stringers, stems, and gunwales for light weight. It’s a privilege to work with wood of this quality....
Stems, gunwales, stringers, keels
Stems, gunwales, stringers, keels, plus the forms needed to build the decks. Add the ribs and that's all the wood for two canoes....
On YouTube: Adding perimeter lines to a skin-on-frame kayak
New video on the YouTube channel: adding perimeter lines to a skin-on-frame kayak. Perimeter lines can mean the difference between losing your kayak or not in a windy rescue situation....
Why I use leather straps on my kayaks
I believe you should be able to carry, tow, or rescue from any deck line on a sea kayak which is why I use English bridal leather straps on all my kayaks. This stuff is ridiculously expensive but I like it because it has a little bit of stretch but is also as strong...
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Bending Tests
Been working on bending tests of different types of readily available hardwood. I'm fortunate enough to get my bending oak directly from a sustainable forester here in Oregon, but most builders will be restricted to the stock at their local shop. I'm getting interesting results, hopefully this will let me make broader recommendations when...
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Doing things a little differently in the shop this week
Doing things a little differently in the shop this week... When Tillamook dairy approached us for a kayak to install in their new visitor center, there was one challenge: the boat needed to match their brand (and their cheese). Normally we skin with dyed nylon coated in polyurethane, but to get such a precise...
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Ribs, ribs, ribs.
Ribs, ribs, ribs. This is just a small portion of the growing rib graveyard as I develop the new canoes. Oak, bamboo and ash, and milling another set of oak today. It’s a small glimpse of the time, money and material that goes into prototyping. If this was just about getting the shape down,...
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Bamboo vs Oak
I get a lot of questions about ribbing with bamboo, and for years that’s what I used in my boats. But it was hard for students to get the steep bends needed for the F1, hence the switch to white oak. But this boat doesn’t need such dramatic bends, so we’re doing a trial...
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