The Pirogue Maker

[harry strasil]

An interesting 14 minute video of hand craftsmanship.

http://www.folkstreams.net/film,188

I hope you enjoy.

[Mike Zilis]

Thanks for sharing the link to that movie. What a gem!

I guess the forearm hair "sharpness test" has been around a lot longer than I thought.

;)

-Mike

[harry strasil]

I did that with one of my Cast Steel Broadaxes once to show a person it was sharp, he almost fainted on me LOL.

[Eric Brown]

This little film really shows the joy you can have doing woodwork.
Hopefully we can all be so blessed.

Eric

[Martin Peek]

Beautiful film!

[Pedro Reyes]

Harry,

Thanks for sharing, not just this but every post of yours is a joy to read. I can't thank you enough.

Fascinating video, pardon my ignorance but what was the deal with the hole and then the plug, is there a purpose I am missing?

Also, wow on the sharp axe, I can get my chisels and planes sharp enough to shave hair, but not my drawknife yet, don't think I could get an axe yet either.

/p

[Harlan Barnhart]

I'm guessing he was checking the thickness so he would know when to stop "hollowing".

[Bob Strawn]

Thank you for sharing that!

I grew up fishing, wading in, seining and throwing a cast net in just such waters. Brings back so many memories of a time now distant.

I never appreciated the time, skill and materials put into the odd boats we took for granted.

Bob

[David Gendron]

Thank you Jr. It is realy appreciated!

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks Harry, that was interesting. So where some of the other videos on the site.

jim

[Ron Brese]

I loved how this was constructed using chalk lines, a square and the human eye. I also noted that they used spit for a sharpening lubricant, of course they had better spit in those days:)

Ron

[Jim Rimmer]

Great film. I liked watching the little boys getting right in there to watch and learn. Reminded me of my Grandfather and me.

[Rob Young]

Harry, for a second there, I thought you wrote "Perogie" maker and it made me hungry...

Neat video!

[Marty Weatherup]

That was a great video. It never ceases to amaze me what a true craftsman can do with hand tools.

[Jack Camillo]

Thanks for posting, Harry. Several of my friends from down south enjoyed it as well after I shared it with them from your post.

[John Timberlake]

Thanks, Harry. They still make them, just not out of a cypress log.

[James Carmichael]

I did that with one of my Cast Steel Broadaxes once to show a person it was sharp, he almost fainted on me LOL.

LOL. I once shaved (only my cheeks, not the throat!) with my Kershaw hunting knife, just to show some nimrods what a really sharp knife could do. They thought I was Grizzly Adams.

[Ken Werner]

Great link Jr. Thanks for posting it.

[John McClanahan]

Drilling holes to measure wall thickness was a common practice for carved boats. I know someone who carved a boat from a log. He didn't know the hole trick. The boat ended up too heavy to drag out of the water!

John

[John Coloccia]

Drilling holes to measure wall thickness was a common practice for carved boats. I know someone who carved a boat from a log. He didn't know the hole trick. The boat ended up too heavy to drag out of the water!

John

We do something similar for archtop guitars as well. You put a little post in your drill press, set the depth, and then guide the blank over the post and drill. Then it's easy to carve down to the bottom of the hole and it gives you a good starting point. I'm surprised that more people don't do that for carvings, especially chair seats.

[John Coloccia]

uhm....we don't go all the way through of course. :o

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Harry. We have lost a lot of skills in this country.
It was a simpler time back then - if you needed something, you made it.

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks Harry.

I second all the comments about the woodworking, but beyond that - what a heartfelt way to frame this picture.

.

[David Keller NC]

We do something similar for archtop guitars as well. You put a little post in your drill press, set the depth, and then guide the blank over the post and drill. Then it's easy to carve down to the bottom of the hole and it gives you a good starting point. I'm surprised that more people don't do that for carvings, especially chair seats.

We do, but as you said, it isn't a through hole. And I had to look carefully at the film, but I'm pretty sure that was a through-hole.

Ordinarily, I would expect just such a hole that is regularly found in aluminum boats to allow you to drain out a big heavy load of rain water, but that boat was so light I'd question the need for it. Perhaps the idea is that in the days before cheap plastic tarps an oil-cloth cover would've been too expensive, and the hole and plug was intended so that the boat would not accumulate rainwater and split during storage.

[Dave Lehnert]

Thanks for the link.

Every time I pick up an old tool at an antique mall and use it I often wonder if that tool was used to build something like that back in the day.
Wouldn't be great to know the history behind an old tool.