July, 1922 
FOREST AND STREAM 
307 
HOW TO HANDLE A CANOE 
CEW rules are necessary in canoeing, 
* as experience is the greatest teacher, 
but a hint or two at the start may alle- 
viate some of the hard knocks that come 
while you are gaining experience. 
Dress is important if canoeing is to be 
enjoyed to the utmost. A soft shirt 
should be worn and trousers should be 
loose so as to allow the knees to bend 
easily. Soft socks and mocassins, or 
other light, flexible footwear, is abso- 
lutely necessary, for the feet must not 
be cramped by stiff boots, and the canoe 
should be preserved. 
A paddle of medium weight reaching 
to the vicinity of the chin, and with a 
rectangular-shaped blade is the best one 
to use. 
Your canoeing position should be, 
above all, correct. When one is to pad- 
dle alone, he must kneel on the middle 
thwart of the canoe. Do not sit ! Only 
landlubbers do that ! The feet are to be 
spread under the thwart, and you must 
be close to the gunwale from v.hich you 
will paddle. You will not tip. Your feet 
are great balancers ! When meeting' 
waves, though, it is well to center your 
position. If two are to paddle, one 
should sit in the stern and the other 
in the bow. 
Put your right hand on the extreme 
top of the paddle and the left hand 
about four or five inches from where 
the blade broadens. Strike a position 
with the body tilted slightly forward, so 
that the right arm is bent and on a level 
with your head; the left hand will be 
stretched away from you at nearly full 
length, poised in the act of dipping. 
The body straight as an arrow, the right 
hand a few inches from your head, and 
the left hand away from the body pre- 
paratory to a stroke. Note the picture. 
The lad has just dipped his paddle, and 
is on the back stroke. 
Dip the blade three-quarters in the 
water, straight downward, and close to 
the side of the canoe. Then lean slightly 
on your right arm and push the paddle 
away from you with an even movement. 
The' left arm pulls steadily backward, 
while the body half turns toward the 
bank. Push, pull and lean steadily, until 
the paddle is behind you and the left 
hand is by your hips. As you do this 
stroke, the blade turns gradually toward 
the bank. The side of the blade that 
was facing your rear has slowlv turned — 
starting when it is past the hip.s — until 
it is flat against the canoe, facing the 
bank, the hand twisted a bit. That is 
how a canoe is steered. 
With the performing of the .stroke, the 
canoe veered from a straight course. 
Now with the flat of the paddle you 
push easily toward the bank until the 
canoe is moving straight. Then lift it 
gracefully, noiselessly out of the water 
and repeat. 
There it is all in a nutshell. The posi- 
tion is fixed, you dip the paddle, push, 
pull and lean till the blade is behind you 
and your left hand by your hip. Then 
push it toward the bank until the canoe 
is righted to its course. The stroke 
should be memorized. It should be prac- 
ticed with a broom at home. Then taken 
easily at the start in a canoe, and grad- 
ually worked into speed. Some old- 
timers have the stroke so perfect they 
only have to steer very little. It all 
comes with practice. Try various ways, 
based on these instructions and you will 
soon learn. 
Correct position in paddling 
Now for a few hints that will help 
you : 
1 — Keep knees in bottom of canoe. 
This also applies to poles, and general 
luggage that should lie on the bottom of 
the canoe, and adjusted to balance your 
weight. 
2 — Do not jump in or out of a canoe, 
nor throw heavy objects hard into the 
bottom. A canoe bottom is fragile, also 
dragging it over stones hurts it. 
3 — Steer clear of banks and hidden 
projections and half submerged snags. 
Cut all banks, and head into the wind 
and also the waves. 
Just use common sense. A canoe is 
perfectly safe when you are thoroughly 
familiar with its sudden rngw^ents. 
Elmer L. Wheeler,* New York. 
THE AXE FoFcAMP AND 
AUTO 
IWI ENTION of the axe as an item of 
outing equipment may at first bring 
to the reader a vision of woodcutting for 
a winter camp, but a good axe is a fre- 
quently useful, sometimes indispensable, 
accompaniment of automobile travel. 
Many can remember tramping the road 
for a half mile and back, seeking plank 
or rail suitable for a “pry,” only to learn 
that the burden toted was rotten enough 
to break just as its purpose seemed near 
of accomplishment. Who has not 
yearned for a tool with which to speed- 
ily cut brush which would enable the 
wheels to override a mudhole? 
And it is not of the Boy Scout or 
hatchet-sized axe that the writer would 
speak, however firmly established such a 
tool may be for the mid-day picnic or 
the extremely “go-light” pedestrian. Eor 
an extensive auto tour, for a short one 
off state highways, or for the camper who 
has horse, canoe or sled transport, a 
two-handed axe is evidently desirable. 
When there’s likelihood of cutting poles 
or levers above three inches in diameter 
or wood for a steady fire, the outer will 
not use a hatchet if he has any regard 
for time or the welfare of his right 
hand and wrist. True, wonders can be 
done on green saplings, bended while cut- 
ting, with a one-hand axe or a knife, 
even, but the axe to be described can be 
used with one hand or two, and when 
there’s need for two there’s need indeed. 
The weight may range between one 
and one-half and two and one-half 
pounds, two and one-quarter pounds will 
perform creditably at any kind of duty 
(many all-day woodchoppers rise an axe 
not heavier than three pounds) and yet 
is not too heavy for one-hand work such 
as trimming off brush, sharpening 
stakes, etc. 
The double-bit (two-bladed) form is 
recommended, for it has several points 
of superiority and few disadvantages. It 
provides two blades with the weight of 
only one. Take as good care of your 
axe as possible, for a dull one is an 
abomination and tends to depravity of 
speech, but there will be times when, 
notwithstanding carefulness, your blade 
will get a nick, and what joy to know 
that a keen, ready edge remains intact ! 
There nwy be times when the quick cut- 
ting of a root or digging awmy of a 
clayed and innocent-looking bank seems 
more important than the life of any axe. 
If so, use the dull edge and you still 
have an axe, without recourse to an ill- 
spared hour at a grindstone. 
Many woodsmen and farmers drive 
stakes with the side of the axe, whether 
double or polled. If there’s a vehicle 
for their transport the best tent-pegs are 
eight-inch to twelve-inch spikes, driven 
(Continued on page 320) 
