You bet! I was lucky to capture this footage back then ! thanks for your comment. Have a good day, Steve

If you can find big clumps of it and gather a coffee can of pine sap, i would give it a try ! It will likely work well.

Small steps, one at a time ! Keep that progress going. It is the coolest thing to see your canoe take shape !

@@NomadicWoodsman Your exactly right .. Small steps, and one at a time. It is quite something to see something made from all Natural materials come to life. I could send you a few photos of what I came up with, if your interested ? Just get François to send me your email contact, I'd be happy to send some.

Exactement !!

Wow, thanks!

That would be correct. This is how Francois has shown me ... and how i believe he does them. Works very well. That is awesome, Francois is a great guy, definitely a true mentor in every sense of the word. Being i'm in Alberta, I miss chatting with him and spending time with him ! Cheers, Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman I tried it out today, but found it hard working from the inside of the Canoe towards the outside .. Can't see what I'm doing. I'm going to try using a nail knot to lock my roots, and see how that works. Yes François has been very helpful and so have you Steve. Thanks

Merci ! Ca fait la job comme omelette ! haha bonne journee et bonne saison de cueillette ! Steve

Thanks for watching!

You would use the wax to help the root slide through the tighter hole ? That is a good idea, i had not thought of that ! Cheers, Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman Yes exactly Steve .. You just rub a bit on, which seems to help when the root start drying up. I had read this somewhere in my research. Another little tip that helped me with pushing the root tip through the same hole twice, was to leave my awl tip visible, then kind of push the root tip against the awl tip while backing it out of the hole and the root would fallow the awl. Hope this helps my friend.

L'ecorce d'ete n'a pas cette couche mince rougeatre qu'on peut gratter pour donner les 2 differentes couleurs. Desoler pour le manque d'accent mon clavier est anglophone. L'ecorce d'ete a une couleur plus jaunatre et celle d'hiver est comme plus rougeatre. Vous pouvez regarder ma derniere video ou je gratte l'ecorce sur le canot. Voyez le morceau d'ecorce d'ete en dessous de celui d'hiver. C'est difficile a expliquer ! En esperant que cela repondre, bonne journee, Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman Merci c'est très clair !

The binding material is spruce roots, I have a full video called "spruce roots" on that subject, search youtube : Nomadic woodsman spruce roots. You must harvest them from the soil, clean them, boil them, strip them of bark, and split them. Use them as binding while they are wet. The tree branch is a simple willow straight branch with no knots. Used boiling water to help bend without breaking. Hope that helps ! Steve

Thank you ! Glad you enjoyed that ! Steve

It is called a crooked knife or mocotaugan. Traditional tool made and used by first nations in Northeastern America.

@@NomadicWoodsman Thank you! I'm just learning about this. Are you only supposed to collect bark in the spring?

@@OpalDragon24 Spring and summer, it is easier to peel when the weather is warm (more than 20C and the sap is flowing between bark and wood). If earlier spring while leaves are coming out, we call it winter bark. And you can scrape off those designs on it, geese and stars, etc. if you collect in warmer weather it is easier to peel but you won't be able to scrape off the designs on it. Will still make a beauty basket though !

@@NomadicWoodsman Maybe if you put it in the freezer. 😂

Thanks for watching!

I have only peeled trees that I had freshly cut or that I climbed in and peeled the live tree, so I do not know if cutting it in advance would make it easier to peel, I prefer peeling it fresh / live as much as possible. Once you peeled it, and rolled it (must be rolled while still wet or fresh harvested). You can leave your bark roll stored in a shed or a garage out of the elements (sun UV rays and rain) and you can store it pretty much indefinetly. No problem leaving it a year or two while you prepare your other building materials such as roots, lumber, etc. It is alot of work getting the winter bark as it is really glued on to the wood, but if you want to scrape off designs like my last video, you need that. Much easier to harvest summer bark in late june or july though ! But no artistic designs to be scraped off that one. good luck, Steve

Depends where you are ... the best is if you know someone who has private land and you can go harvest bark. Or if you know areas where people are planning to cut birch down for firewood and you can go harvest some bark before they cut them down for firewood. If you are going on public lands, make sure you are allowed to harvest bark or firewood and get the appropriate licenses from the forestry department and make sur you are in the right area (they usually have maps where you are allowed to go and maps where you are not allowed to go). Hopefully that helps, it may be challenging if you are in a urban setting and no one will allow you to cut anything ... Sometimes I have to walk many kilometres and cut trees deep in the boreal forests where almost no one goes, and then I need to haul it out on my back once it's rolled.... lots of work ! cheers and good luck and stay safe, Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman Thanks I see, not a ton of birch here in Washington State. thinking about heading up to BC. Other problem is figuring out if western red cedar would work for sheathing and ribs, and if our local spruce root works as well. At this point it kind of seems like the best bet is finding a few weeks to go up to quebec or the northeast states.

@@winstonhackett7807 Maine and New Hampshire have some beautiful white birch...

@@NomadicWoodsman Might make that work... any thoughts on storing bark for later use?

Thank you so much 😀 yes it's always toring to let a beauty canoe like this go. Although this is how i can make room and learn how to make more of them ! Cheers ! Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman Your welcome .. Yes we all need more room ! Got my tamarack thwarts and cedar gunwales all fitted and assembled yesterday. What a job ..

Merci Suzanne !

thanks man !!!! :)

Yes probably 1/8 to 1/4 inch or so. It just needs to be the right size so you can pass the root through it 2 or 3 times. So make a smaller hole and see if you can pass your root that many times, if not, go a little bit bigger. You don't want a huge hole that will jeopardize the solidity of the thwart, just big enough to do your lashing with the root.

@@NomadicWoodsman Thanks .. That's great. Speaking of thwarts, I'm in the process of making my first mortises into the gunwales and shaving down the thwarts ends to fit, and I have to say this has been the most intimidating part of all the different type of work for me until now.

It's just a different way of tucking in the end. You could also insert it between the inner and outer gunwales but I just learnt it and do it this way. Both would work very well. Important thing is that it's nice and tug and tight. this way if the pressure of the ribs wants to separate the inner and outer gunwale, the root lashings will keep everything in place. Here is a video on spruce root gathering and processing : kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKKaoYKNeZ6Nj5I

@@NomadicWoodsman OK thanks ... Good to know. The spruce roots I have already collected and processed last year, and now there soaking in a batch of root bark like you suggested to Brown them up. I've watched everything you've put out on BB Canoes. Thanks again.

@@charlesleblanc6638 Awesome ! Don't let them too long maybe 1 or 2 days. And then hang them and dry them good if you are going to store them. One time, I had boiled roots and then split them all. I did a big error and that was leaving them in a plastic bin(no lid) in a basement. They all rotted and turned black within two days. About 12 hours of work all for nothing. Now I know better ! Make sure they dry good in an open area before storing. thanks for all your support ! cheers, Steve

@@NomadicWoodsman I know what you mean about hanging them for storage. But I have some now that have been soaking for a few weeks and are still OK .. Maybe the mixture and being outside doesn't effect them the same way. I wondered if they could weaken if left in the water or this solution to long. Thank you for all the great advice.

hi thank you for the comment. The rim here is a split piece of white spruce. It also works well with eastern cedar. The idea is to shave it down and keep it along the grain of the wood... The lashing used are split spruce roots, I have multiple other videos on collecting, boiling and preparing spruce roots. The process for my roots is the same for a basket or a canoe. I would encourage you to check out those videos. I had also done some videos on the spruce bark canoe rib splitting with spruce and also with eastern cedar splitting some thin planks. I use these planks for basket rims. Saskatoon branches and willow works very well for sure. I use some boiling water to make the wood more flexible. It is the same method as when bending ribs for a birchbark canoe, you soak your wood for a few days, then steam it or pour boiling water on it, and then slowling bend it to required shape. Then fix it in place with a clamp or root lashing. Hope this helps ! thanks again for checking out my video, respectfully, Steve

Thank you ! I am glad you enjoyed the video. Birch items and work is so satisfying. Have a nice day ! Steve

Probablement ! Il faudrait trouver une "talle" ! Je ne sais pas s'il existe une carte de distribution ... recherche sur internet "distribution map medeola viginiana" ou dans des livres sur la flore.

@@NomadicWoodsman merci infiniment !