Fifth Stage of Canoe Construction: canoe is removed from building bed and set on horse 

 in order to shape ends and complete sewing. Bark cover has dried out in a flat-bottomed and 



wall-sided form. {Sketch hy Adney.) 



the outboard face of each stem-piece is about Yi inch 

 wide, making it a truncated triangle in cross-section. 

 Then, along lines parallel to the base of the truncated 

 triangle, it is split into si.\ laminations which arc 

 carried to within 6 or 7 inches of the end selected to 

 be the heel of the stem-piece. Just clear of the 

 laminations a notch is cut into the top side of the heel, 

 to hold the headboard, as will be seen. The piece is 

 then treated with boiling water until the laminations 

 are flexible, and the curve of the stem-piece can be 

 formed and either pegged out or tied with cords 

 imtil it dries in the desired shape. When dry the 

 laminations are tightly wrapped with basswood bark 

 cord, leaving the form of the stem-piece a quarter 

 arc of a circle, with short tangents at each end, as 

 shown in the illustration (p. 35). 



Next, the ends of the outwales are cut to a length 

 determined by the quality of the bark already in 

 place; if the bark in one end is not very good, it may 

 be cut away somewhat and the canoe made shorter 

 by this amount at both ends in finishing. After the 

 ends of the outwales have been cut, botli are notched 

 on the inside at the extreme ends to take the head of 

 the stem-piece. The outwales may or may not 

 project Yi or }^ inch beyond the stem and the stem 

 head may project J^ or 1 inch above the top of the 

 outwales of the canoe; these matters, at the builder's 

 option, decide the length of the notch and the fitting 

 of the stem-pieces. 



The stem-piece is now placed between the folded 

 bark end of the canoe with the heel resting for a 



small distance along its length on the bark Ijotlom; 

 the head must come to the right height above the out- 

 wales, as noted. While one worker holds the stem- 

 piece in place, another trims away the excess bark at 

 the end to the profile of the outboard face of the 

 stem-piece. Thus the profile of each end is cut and the 

 rake of the ends is established. The bark is next 

 lashed to the stem-piece. In this canoe it is done 

 with a spiral over-and-over stitch, a batten made of 

 a large split root being placed over the edges of the 

 bark, as the lashing proceeds, to form a stem band. 

 The turns pass alternately from outboard around the 

 inboard face of the stem-piece and through it; the 

 awl inserted in the laminations from one side opens 

 them enough to allow the strand to be forced through. 

 Care is taken to pull up the strand very hard each 

 time. As the outwalc is approached, the bark is cut 

 away at the notching in each so that the outwales 

 can be brought snugly against the sides of the stem- 

 piece. Here the strand is brought up one or two 

 times over the outwales, abaft the stem head, before 

 the bitter end is tucked, thus locking the outwales to 

 the stem-piece and the bark. Then a lashing is 

 placed around the outwales just inboard of the 

 stem-piece, passing through a hole in the flap of the 

 end deck-piece of bark and through the side bark. 

 This lashing holds the outboard end of the deck 

 piece flap. At the inboard end of the flap, another 

 lashing is required, but the pinched-in outwales 

 require additional securing outboard of this point; 

 hence a lashing is passed just inboard of the middle 



49 



