How to Build a Cedar Dugout Canoe

Dugout canoes were among the first boats built by humans. Archaeological finds in Noyen-sur-Seine, France; Pesse, Netherlands and northern Nigeria place the dugout into the Neolithic period -- that's over 8000 years ago. In more recent times, the natives of the Pacific Northwest and the Lewis and Clark expedition used cedar dugout canoes. Building a cedar dugout canoe isn't easy. It involves lots of strenuous work with an axe and adze, a woodcarving tool. However, building one is practicing experimental archeology; it connects you to the past and helps you learn how these ancient craft perform.

• 1

  Draw a plan of what you want your dugout canoe to look like. Draw plan, profile and station views. The plan view details the shape of the top of the canoe. The profile shows the side, and the station view shows the cross-sections at intervals -- imagine slicing the canoe like a loaf of bread.

• 2

  Get a log big enough in diameter and long enough to fit your drawing. Jim Low, writing in an article about the Lewis and Clark expedition's canoes, recommends a log no shorter than 10 to 12 feet. Branches, knots or imperfections in the log might create leaks, so look for a log that's free of those features.

• 3

  Peel the bark from the canoe using an adze and axe. Depending on how fixed the bark is, you might be able to cut a line with an axe from one end to the other, and then tap the bark free with wedges by hammering the wedges into the gap between the bark and the wood. Otherwise, chop and scrap.

• 4

  Draw your plan view on the top of the log and your profile view on the side of the log.

• 5

  Use an axe, adze or chainsaw to chop the extra wood away from your drawings. To help prevent the log from rolling, carve out a flat surface, which runs along the bottom of the log, using a chainsaw with a long blade. The flat surface sits on the ground and stops the log from rotating as you work. If you chop out the profile view first, the drawn plan view remains until you're ready to work on the top.

• 6

  Finalize the outside shape by comparing the emerging shape to your drawing. Check the stations by eyeing the log to see if the shape is similar. Smooth the log with a draw knife.

• 7

  Hollow out the interior of the canoe. To quickly remove wood, make two notches about 6 inches apart across the width of the canoe -- from gunwale to gunwale -- with an adze. Leave 3 inches on each side for the gunwales. The notches cross the canoe, like a thwart. Sink the adze into one side of the 6-inch spacer wood separating your notches and push down on the handle. The shape of the handle acts as a lever, which pops the wood between your notches out.