The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 9

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 9

Wooden mauls

 

(2, 3 used to set ribs with 4, 5)

 

Driving sticks]

 

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 by 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

accomplished. 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, axe, or chisel could be used.

 

[Illustration: Figure 11

 

Stone 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 handgrips 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.

 

[Illustration: Figure 12

 

Bow Drill]

 

Peeling the bark from roots and splitting them was done by use of the

thumbnail, a stone knife, or a clamshell. Biting was also resorted

to. The end of a root could also be split by first pounding it with a

stone, using a log or another stone as an anvil, to open the fibers

at one end. Splitting a root was usually done by biting to start the

split. Once this was done, half was held in the mouth and the other

half between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. Then the

two parts were gradually pulled apart with the right hand, while the

thumbnail of the left was used to guide the split. If the split showed

a tendency to "run off," bending the root away from the direction of

the run while continuing the splitting usually served to change the

course of the split. If a root was hard to split, the stone knife

came into play instead of the thumbnail. When the split reached arm's

length, the ends were shifted in hand and mouth and the operation

continued.

 

The use of hot water as an aid in bending wood was well known to

some tribal groups before the white man came. Water was placed in a

wooden trough, or in a bark basin, and heated to boiling by dropping

hot stones into it. Some Indians boiled water in bark utensils by

placing them over a fire of hot coals surrounded by stones and earth

so that the flame could not reach the highly inflammable bark above

the water-level in the dish. Stones were lifted from the fire with

wooden tongs made of green saplings bent into a ~U~-shape or made

into a spoon-like outline. A straight stick and a forked one, used

together, formed another type of tongs. The straight stick was placed

in and under the fork; then, by forcing the latter under the stone and

bringing the end of the straight stick hard against its top, the stone

was held firmly, pincer-fashion.

 

The wood to be bent was first soaked in the boiling water, or the water

was poured over it by means of a birch-bark or other dipper. When the

wood was thoroughly soaked with boiling water, bending began, and as

it progressed boiling water was almost continuously poured on the

wood. When the wood had been bent to a desired form, it was secured in

shape by thongs and allowed to cool and dry out, during which it would

take a permanent set. Hard bends, as in gunwale ends and stem-pieces,

were made by this means, usually after the wood had been split into a

number of laminations in the area of the greatest bend. When the piece

had been boiled and bent to its required form, the laminations were

secured by wrapping them spirally with a thong of inner bark (such as

basswood), of roots, or of rawhide.

 

Flat stones were used to weigh down bark in order to flatten it and

prevent curling. Picked up about the canoe-building site, they had

one smooth and fairly flat surface so that no harm came to the bark,

and were of such size and weight as could be handled easily by the

builder. Smooth stones from a stream appear to have been preferred. In

preparation for building a canoe, the pins, stakes, and poles which

were of only temporary use were cut or burned down in the manner

mentioned and stored ready for use. Bark containers were made and

filled with spruce gum, and the materials used in making it hard and

durable were gathered. The building site was selected in the shade,

to prevent the bark from becoming hard and brittle, and on ground

that was smooth, clear of outcroppings of stone, and roots, or other

obstructions, and firm enough to hold the stakes driven into it. The

location was, of course, usually near the water where the canoe was to

be launched.

 

[Illustration: Figure 13

 

Modern Hudson Bay axe]

 

When steel tools became available, the work of the Indian in cutting

and shaping wood became much easier but it is doubtful that better

workmanship resulted. The steel axe and hatchet made more rapid and

far easier than before the felling and cutting up of trees, poles, and

sticks; they could also be used in peeling bark. The favored style of

axe among Canadian Indians was what is known as the "Hudson Bay axe";

it is made as a fairly large or "full-axe," as a lighter "half-axe,"

and as a large hatchet, or hand-axe. The head of the blade is very

narrow, the front of the blade vertical, while the back widens toward

the cutting edge and the latter stands at a slightly acute angle to the

front of the blade. This style of axe seems to follow the traditional

form of the tomahawk and is popular because it cuts well, yet is

lighter to carry than the other forms of axe. It is also called a

"cedar axe" in some localities. In modern times, Indian hatchets are of

the commercial variety, the "lathing" form being preferred because it

holds somewhat to the old trade tomahawk in form of blade and weight.

The traditional steel tomahawk, incidentally was an adaptation of one

of the European forms of hatchet, sold in the early days of the fur

trade.

 

[Illustration: Figure 14

 

Steel tomahawk (fur trade)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 15

 

Steel canoe awls]

 

The "canoe awl" of the fur trade was a steel awl with a blade

triangular or square in cross-section, and was sometimes made of an old

triangular file of small size. Its blade was locked into a hardwood

handle, and it was a modern version of the old bone awl of the bark

canoe builders, hence its name.

 

The plane was also used by modern Indians, but not in white man's

fashion, in which the wood is held in a vise and smoothed by sliding

the tool forward over the work. The Indian usually fixed the plane

upside down on a bench or timber and slid the work over the sole, much

as would be done with a power-driven joiner. However, the plane was not

very popular among any of the canoe-building Indians.

 

[Illustration: Figure 16

 

Crooked knives]

 

The boring tool most favored by the Indians was the common steel

gimlet; if a larger boring tool was desired, an auger of the required

diameter was bought and fitted with a removable cross-handle rather

than a brace.

 

One steel tool having much popularity among canoe-building Indians was

the pioneer's splitting tool known as the "froe." This was a heavy

steel blade, fifteen to twenty inches long, about two inches wide, and

nearly a quarter inch thick along its back. One end of the blade ended

in a tight loop into which a heavy hardwood handle, about a foot long,

was set at right angles to the back edge of the blade, so that, when

held in the hand, the blade was cutting edge down, with the handle

upright. The froe was driven into the end of a balk of timber to be

split by blows from a wooden maul on the back of its blade. Once the

split was started, the maul was dropped and the hand that had held it

was placed at the end of the blade away from the handle. By twisting

the blade with the two hands the split could be forced open. The froe

was a most powerful and efficient splitting tool when narrow, short

plank, or battens, were required. The balk to be split was usually

placed more or less end-up, as its length permitted, in the crotch of a

felled tree, so as to hold it steady during the splitting. The pioneer

used this tool to make clapboards and riven shingles; the Indian canoe builder found it handy for all splitting.