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dug out canoe

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jamie:
thats gonna be a big dugout at that width and a lot of work. great winter project. one way to determine thickness is to drill holes in various spots . as you reach these spots you stop burning. later the holes can be plugged with dowels or pitch and tinder. the primitive way of making these is to burn . the burning will help preserve the dugout because bacteria doesnt eat burned wood. you'll need a lot of clay also. the clay is used to prevent the fire from burning through the thin areas and also it helps with the initial burn. when you first start your fire on top of the log youll be making a ring of clay to contain the fire on top of the log. it takes a good bit of time to get the log to start burning out but once it starts it goes down a lot quicker. only other tool you need is a fire hardened stick to remove the charded wood as it burns. this exposes the fresh wood. hardest part i found was working the knots. they dont burn as fast so i use a stone adze to rough em out and they burn faster.

nordic tribes as well as many others chipped the dugouts out with steel adzes. faster but much more labor intensive. a grub axe with a good edge will work as a substitute for the adze  if you dont want to invest a couple hundred on a good steel adze. once you are close to depth you will use fire again, inside and out, to preserve the wood.

using an axe to fell that large a tree is dangerous so be careful. however the good thing about using the axe is youll get a good cone shape on the ends . unlike a flat chainsaw cut where youll have to shape the ends . im sure i forgot stuff so ask questions as they come up.  good luck man cant wait to see how you make out. please post pics of the project as it proceeds. peace

jturner:
Thanks jamie i was waitin for you to jump in i heard you should float the log and mark the top to make it more stable. Should i do that or just not worry bout it

jamie:
Never done that but if its feasible try it. Gonna be a big junk of wood to keep moving around

jturner:
How well do you figure a sharpened deer leg bone will work to scrape it out? Ive been gatherin sinew so i have lots of them. I have an old boat trailer i haul logs on shouldnt be too bad to move plus i have all winter.

jamie:
anything will work to scrape it out if you are burning. leg bone is gonna have to be hafted to something to lengthen it though and it doesnt have as much surface area as say a 2 inch sapling would so you'll be doing more work.

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