Figure to 



(2,3 used +0 set ribs 

 w.+ h 4, 5) 



Drivinq s+icks 



bark, so that one of the rib's narrow edges faced the 

 bark side; only in this direction would the wood split 

 readily and only when made this way would the ribs 

 bend without great breakage. 



Long pieces for sheathing and for the gunwale 

 members were split from white cedar or black spruce. 

 The splitting of such long pieces as these required not 

 only proper selection of clear wood, but also careful 

 manipulation of wood and tools in the operation. 

 Splitting of this kind — say, for ribs in the finish cut — 

 was usually done by first splitting out a batten large 

 enough to form two members. To split it again, a 

 stone knife was tapped into the end grain to start the 

 split at the desired point, which, as has been noted, was 

 always at the upper end of the stick, not at the root 

 end. Once the split was opened, it was continued by 

 use of a sharp-pointed stick and the stone knife; if the 

 split showed a tendency to run off the grain as it 

 opened, it could be controlled by bending the batten, 

 or one of the halves, away from the direction the split 

 was taking. The first rough split usually served to 

 show the worker the splitting characteristics of a piece 

 of wood. This method of finishing frame members in 

 bark canoes accounts for the uneven surfaces that 

 often mark some parts, a wavy grain producing a 

 wave in the surface of the wood when it was finished. 



If it were desired to produce a partially split piece of 

 wood, such as some tribal groups used for the stems, 

 or in order to allow greater curvature at the ends of 

 the gunwale, the splitting was stopped at the desired 

 point and a tight lashing of rawhide or bark was 

 placed there to form a stop. 



The tapering of frames, gunwales, and thwarts and 

 the shaping of paddles were accomplished b\' splitting 

 away surplus wood along the thin edges and by 

 abrasion and scraping on all edges. Stone scrapers 

 were widely employed; shell could be employed in 

 some areas. Rubbing with an abrasive such as soft 

 sandstone was used when the wood became thoroughly 

 dry: hardwood could often be polished by rubbing it 

 with a large piece of wood, or by use of fine sand held 

 in a rawhide pad. By these means the sharp edges 

 could be rounded off and the final shaping accom- 

 plished. Some stone knives could be used to cut 

 wood slowly, saw fashion, and this process appears to 

 to have been used to form the thwart ends that 

 in many canoes were tenoned into the gunwales. 

 A stone knife used saw fashion would also cut a bent 

 sapling easily, though slowly. To cut and trim bark 

 a stone knife was employed; to peel bark from a tree, 

 a hatchet, a.xe, or chisel could be used. 



S+one scraper 



Drilling was done by means of a bone awl made from 

 a splinter of the shank-bone of a deer; the blade 

 of this awl had a roughly triangular cross-section. 

 The splinter was held in a wooden handle or in a 

 rawhide grip. The awl was used not only to make 

 holes in wood, but also as the punch to make holes for 

 "sewing" in bark. Large holes were drilled by means 

 of the bow-drill, in which a stone drill-point was 

 rotated back and forth by the bow-string. Some 

 Indians rotated the drill between the palms of their 

 hands, or by a string with hand-grips at each end. 

 The top of the drill was steadied by a block held in 

 the worker's mouth, the top rotating in a hole in the 

 underside of the block. With the bow-drill, however, 

 the block was held in one hand. 



19 



