NMAI Decorated Algonquin Paddle

A decorated Algonquin paddle from the National Museum of the American Indian. First time I've seen this decoration pattern and no idea about its significance but if the date of this paddle is correct (1780-1820) it shows that the flat extended grip has been in use for many centuries. This corroborates the circa 1770s Cree Paddle design I posted on before. Unfortunately there are no dimensions provided, but from the general shape of it, it would seem to make a beautiful solo paddle.



Date created: 1780-1820
Place: Eastern Canada
Collection history unknown; formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Salem (now the Peabody Essex Museum); acquired by MAI via an exchange with the Peabody Museum in 1963.
Catalog number:23/2290

Black Creek Village Birchbark Canoe

During a recent family outing to Black Creek Pioneer Village, a recreated 1800's community in northwest Toronto, we stumbled upon a birchbark canoe on display. It was found hanging from ceiling beams in the village's fully functional water-powered flour mill. Here's a shot of the boy and I gazing at its beauty.


I spent some time examining the workmanship. Nice clean lashing and a graceful sheerline with quite steep stem curves. What immediately caught my attention was that some sort of sealant (varnish perhaps?) must've been applied to the hull bark and interior woodwork. A closeup of the bark shows the aging sealant drying up giving the whole thing a cracked eggshell appearance.




The centre yoke was carved in the traditional manner with notches for a tumpline. I also noticed what looked like leather lace used to lash the yoke into place.

Centre yoke and lashing
The richly sealed interior had some very neatly spaced ribs and an antique looking paddle lashed up for a portage carry. The straight sided blade with recurved shoulders is an example of the so-called voyageur design, the first antique version I've ever seen first hand. I couldn't gather the wood type given that the grain & original wood was masked with a faded blueish grey paint on the blade and red paint on the shaft. The grip was just a small, squarish bobble which looked like more of a stopper than an actual grip.


Paddle stashed away


Blade closeup


Bobble grip
After unsuccessfully trying to get some info on the canoe from the on-site staff, I received a courteous a detailed message about its origins. While the exact date is uncertain, it was made by the Algonkians at Maniwaki, Quebec between 1951-1977. The single piece bark hull has some additional side panels and the lashing apparently included deerskin rawhide in addition to spruce root. Sure enough, it had been varnished at a later date to "preserve it" and prevent leaks.

All these years living in the city and I never knew a bark canoe was on display locally.

The Last Trapper's Bark Canoe

The 2004 French film about the bushlife in Alaska the Yukon (thanks for the correction FrozenFella), Le Dernier Trappeur  - The Last Trapper has some wonderful cinematic shots of a birchbark canoe in whitewater. I came across footage of the film on google video

Around the 5:15 mark, there's some picturesque canoeing in a canyon with the white water run beginning around 11:30. Maybe its just me, but the main character in the film, an actual trappeur named Norm Winters, doesn't seem to be an avid paddler, especially after he rams the bow of the canoe into rockface in calm water just to pick up his pet husky. A simply back ferry would've prevented the cringing collision but the canoe seems no worse for wear.

Some screen shots










It turns out that the exciting whitewater run was paddled by a "stunt double" from Tatshenshini Expediting. Here's a little writeup. Brave stuff!

Crooked Knife Project - Part 3: Carving Handle

Part of the whole fun of making a crooked knife is customizing the handle to perfectly fit your own hand. Allow me to indulge you with a little side story about my knife's handle. During the early summer, our family took a trip back to Turkey to visit our extended family and introduce our boy to his elders, including his 90 year old great grandmother.

She's lived in the same mountainous region all her life and our family made their living working the land and tending to their many small olive orchards dotting the countryside. Her elder brother (my great uncle), known for his physical endurance, was apparently in charge of some of the more rugged orchards that clung to the mountainside. While taking a break from his responsibilities one day, my great uncle went rabbit hunting in the adjacent foothills and suffered a stroke and died. As a sign of mourning, the family decided no longer to tend the orchard in this area and the olive trees simply aged and returned to their unpruned, wild state. Despite the encroaching urbanization of the area, the isolated location of the plot has allowed it to retain its wilderness feel.

With my grandmother's recollected memories of the location, I hiked through this hilly region to find some of the neglected trees in this family plot. The small goat path I followed eventually led me to a cluster of olive trees at the base of the Nif Mountain range's foothills where my great uncle passed away.


The "mourning" orchard - olive trees are the pale green cluster
Olive trees are beautiful and even give off a faint resinous aroma of their precious oil. Near the back of the plot where the old orchard gives way to tall pine trees, I spotted a tree with a curious broken branch whose shape seemed perfect for the crooked knife blade I had been working on back home.


A broken branch crook; Fit my hand nicely
I didn't have any tools with me, so returned back to the village and borrowed a neighbour's saw to cut this piece and a few other branches as samples the next day. Olive wood is a very dense hardwood, with a tight grain that makes it ideal for carving and shaping.

Once back home and continuing with the crooked knife project, I cut out and roughly shaped a few handles from scrap wood to get a feel for the best design. Below are some of the templates I had prepared. A cherry handle, yellow birch, and two olive branches brought back from Turkey. Lots of deliberation and second guessing, but eventually I settled on gently curving olive wood branch (3rd from top) rather than the naturally bent crook that had originally caught my eye as the former seemed to feel the best in terms of weight, shape, and grip comfort - although I flipped it around from the orientation shown in the picture below.


Handle choices
Once I decided on the handle and the blade orientation (angled off the centre line), I proceeded to mark and chisel out a slot for the tang to fit.


Underside of handle with chiselled slot
Using a piece of white birch from a log destined for the firepit, the shim piece was carved to also fit in the carved groove. The tension of these pieces held tightly with waxed whipping thread would hold the blade into position


Carved shim; Nice fit; Beginning whipping
To end the whipping a stitching needle was used to pull the excess line under the whip. The shot below gives you the idea, but I wrapped it several more times.


After a bit more sharpening on some wetstones and honing on a strop, the knife was holding an edge nicely. Here's a picture showing it in action shaving down some scrap cedar.


Action shot
Haven't decided if I'll decorate the handle with some pyrography or leave it as is. But I now have a working crooked knife with a bit of special family history.


The completed crooked knife

UPDATE: April 6/10: A post on improving the crooked knife lashing and securing the blade has been published.

Historical Paddle Painting - William Armstrong

While browsing through The National Art Gallery of Canada's online site, I came across a painting that contained a pictorial representation of a decorated native paddle.


William Armstrong
Hudson's Bay Store, Fort William c. 1860-1870
National Gallery of Canada (no. 30490)
The seated figure on the left (veiled woman?) seems to be holding a thin paddle (narrow algonquin/ottertail style) with a yellow and red checkered design. Unfortunately the grip area is obscured by the placement of her hands.


Paddle Closeup