handmade or deja vu all over again

[seedtick]

Captaindoug posted a link to the 1948 film "The Pirogue Maker" and it just happened that friend Keith and I are currently involved in a remake documentary of that film. We'll be using similar tools and techniques shown in the film and we thought some of you might be interested in the project.

To build a dugout, you have to start with a log. In 1948 they cut a tree down, today you have to pull up a sinker.

Look around at the pile of logs left over from last summer's work

pick one out, cut off the end. I included this just to show the shake or split that shows up in many logs. It's the result of a centuries old hurricane that came through, didn't blow the tree over but did create an internal shear that the tree eventually grew around

cut out a section, split it down the middle, get friend Keith's approval. The shake will often run quite a ways and since it is a weak spot, we will avoid it in our build.

put it on the trailer. This log is 12 feet long and 40" across and it has about 80 growth rings per inch.

 

[graybeard]

Wow!

At 80 rings per inch, does that mean thats a 1600 yr old, or an 800? (20" x 80 rings, is a ring a summer and winter?).
Either way, that's pretty amazing. Please keep adding to this - it's really interesting.

 

[captaindoug]

Thank you for taking the time to include us in your progress of this movie re-make. You might need to take time out to build a T-Shirt Shack out by the road to sell autographed t shirts and hats, maybe print up some of those Movie Star Maps and put 'em down at the "Pick & Grab Gas Station" so the tourists can find ya.
Seriously, I for one am looking forward to watching how this turns out, thanks again.

 

[mike]

As Gomer Pyle said "Thank Ya, Thank Ya, Thank Ya!"

I'll be watching this with lots of interest. 8) 8) 8)

Mike

 

[seedtick]

Now Chuck you don't have to go deleting thread drifting comments for my benefit. I kinda enjoy them. Reading the BS is as much fun as the serious stuff. But in the end, you handle it anyway you want.

( Chuck Here.... The intent of this thread is related to the history of making a boat the way they did a long time ago... Which you are taking the time to share with us . Any attempts to Hijack it will be gone since that is discourteous to the intent of this. As you noticed the ones already posted have vanished and so will future ones. )

Back to the original.......

Ideally you'd like a to have a cant or rectangular slab of wood to begin working on a dugout

but this old log was too big to fit in the mill, so friend Keith and I had to cut it down the old fashion way. Start by drawing a horizontal line below the center shake on both ends. Pop a line down each side to give yourself a flat area on each side. Trim to the line. Don't have to be perfect, just enough to draw a line.

Now the sides are squared up and we bring it inside and set up up on some smaller cants. Don't use sawhorses as this log weighs in at a bit more than 1200lb.

Now we draw a horizontal line all around the log. This line will be the top of the dugout.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Seedtick, is a cant a coupla blocks of wood stacked up? Looks similar to what we call cribbing, timbers criss-crossed under a structure or an airplane.

 

[mike]

Seedtick, is a cant a coupla blocks of wood stacked up? Looks similar to what we call cribbing, timbers criss-crossed under a structure or an airplane.

A "cant" is a log with squared sides.

Mike

 

[hairymick]

Geez Ticky,

Please keep going with this one mate. I am enjoying it very much - and learning a lot .

 

[crkdltr]

This will be a fantastic event to watch unfold. One quick question though seedtick, as you are remaking the "pirogue maker" film, perhaps you can answer a question about the film. Toward the end of the build you see him drill a hole in the bottom of the pirogue and then glue in a wooden dowel and cut it off flush at the bottom. Was there a purpose to this or was this one of those "trademark" finishes that great craftsmen have?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[captaindoug]

I saw that part also, and I'm guessing it was the builders method for gauging the exact thickness of the hull in that area, then he just has to keep both sides fair to keep the thickness consistent. When he gets the thickness he wants, he just bungs the hole with a dowel and he is good to go. Like I said, just my guess, maybe the masters will tell us the true story.

 

[Jimmy W]

You are correct Captain.

 

[seedtick]

my take on the "hole" issue is that anyone with just a wee bit of wood working skill can put two hands on each side of a board and tell how thick it is. Notice how they run their hands down the sides to gauge uniform thickness in the film.
My personal opinion -and it is just that - is that the master builder did not hog out the majority of the wood from the inside of the boat, the kids or an apprentice did the rough work and they did indeed need to use the thickness gauge as shown.

There's just too many other ways to judge the thickness of the bottom without having to drill a hole in it. But I have seen lots of dugouts that had holes drilled in the bottom

 

[crazycajunmike]

Spent many years outside of New Orleans , LaPlace to be exact, when talking with old cajuns they spoke of hunting and trapping the swamps surrouding lake Ponchatrain area.....they spoke of handmade pirouges from cypress. Any way the always said they kept them in the water to keep them from drying out and the wood splitting.....at the end of the season they would sink them and raise them when they started back fishing or trapping again. Was this a line of bull they feed to a greenhorn?

 

[seedtick]

no line of bull at all

a 12'" wide cypress board will move about 1/4" in width going from soaking wet to soaking dry. Repeated cycles of dry/wet will cause the cypress to split.

You've got a couple of options when building with cypress

1. build it tight with dry wood and keep it sealed so the wood never gets wet and swells - this is what we do

2. Build it loose with dry wood and wet it out and let it swell to take up the seams and keep it wet thereafter - that's what most of the old folks did as they didn't live far the water and never intended to take their boats out

 

[catfish]

thanks for sharing all the info with us geezers i look forward to see how it turns out.

 

[Wannabe]

Most of what the old cajuns did was common sense things anyway, huh Seedtick.
Bob

 

[seedtick]

Once you have a line all the way around, you cut notches down to the line

You can use a pass pa tout

or a pass pa one (?)

Anyway the idea is to saw down to the line about every 4 or 5 inches then cleave off the standing blocks with an axe. This keeps the grain from running the split into what will be the top of the boat.

This is a way to safely remove large amounts of wood and you will see us use this technique throughout the shaping of the exterior of the dugout

 

[Kayak Jack]

Seedtick,
Your pass pa tout is called a misery whip in the Northwoods.

 

[graybeard]

Man, that is an impressive tree.

Yesterday, I stumbled across a wood worker store that actually stocked hardwoods. 1" Bald Cypress was $7/board foot. The only consolation was that 1" Cherry was $6.38/bf. They even had Sapele and Padauk at $9 & $18/bf. Interesting to see them after hearing Mick mention them - Sapele is very teak-like, almost greasy, and Padauk very dense.

 

[seedtick]

don't know about the other woods but last retail price quote i had was $7.50/bdft for cypress 8 to 14" wide up to 12' long sold only in random widths and lengths.