The pear-shaped oiled grip gives the Ojibway a pleasant and smooth feel. That guarantees a solid and relatively light combination. The ottertail paddle is made up of a cherry, walnut and ayous laminate. Canoe building course | stitch and glue construction.Canoe building workshop | wood strip construction.It is a graceful craft with a high, curved prow and sleek lines. The Ojibwe canoe is generally recognized as being one of the finest in design and workmanship. It was used in fishing and trapping, and was a necessity in gathering the wild-rice growing in shallow lakes and streams. Among the Ojibwe whose economic cycle demanded movement, the canoe took them to their hunting grounds in winter, to the maple sugar bush in spring, back to the summer village in season and to the wild rice fields in early autumn. Here where the waterways were the main arteries of travel, the birch bark canoe was the most important means of travel and transportation.įor these Indians of the north whose economic life was based on hunting and fishing, the canoe was invaluable. In this land of deep forest, numerous rivers, streams and lakes, the canoe was an exceedingly important element in the life and culture of the Ojibwe people.

With so much to offer, its admirers believe it should not become a mere collector’s item or museum piece but should continue in use, a link with the past for the future.

Because of its construction without a keel, its handling is regarded as a special art but, light and responsive, its mastery provides much pleasure and satisfaction. The canoe still provides a severe test of the paddlers skill and sense of balance. The honey-colored bark and the irregular gummed seams and edges are pleasing to the eye, while the woodsy odor of the drying materials are tantalizing to the olfactory senses. The finished birch bark canoe remains a work of natural beauty since none of its surfaces are preserved in any way. The secrets can only be learned with patience. His final success is assured because he has the “feel” of materials he knows the natural stress and shrinkage of green materials he understands the allowances he must take to fashion a craft with the graceful, sweeping, curving lines that create the traditional symmetry of the Indian canoe. The experienced canoe-builder goes about his task with sure deftness, often with no shelter. Ferdy Goode paddling an Ojibwe-style birch bark canoe photo by Walt Jones

Ojibwe style canoe