an uncommon project

[Steve Inniss]

This may be of interest to some.

My son was in Canada's far north on Baffin Island. It is very common for Inuit youth to learn to hunt seal as part of retaining traditional skills, and he was invited to join them. He was lucky enough (I guess) to shoot one and some Inuit elders skinned and stretched it for him. It was up to Dad to build a permanent stretcher for it so he could hang it up when he got home.
It's just pine with cedar splines and pins. On something this size -@8ft, and with eight joints, the mitering sure had to be precise. -Steve

[Ted Shrader]

Steve -

What a cool project! I really like the splines and pins. Just a little bit of detail so the frame isn't too plain and fits in well with the "look".

Ted

[Greg Mann]

Very nice, Steve. Is this a design of your origin or is it based on traditional technique. Your son has been fortunate in many ways to have an opportunity to gain insight into one of the most fascinating cultures on the planet. Now he will have a special artifact to help him remember not only that experience but good old Dad as well.

Greg

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice, Steve. Is this a design of your origin or is it based on traditional technique.
...
Greg
I think that I can answer the question. When I was a boy in Hearst Ontario, there was a Hudson Bay Company store just down the street and they, of course, traded for furs. I remember very rough racks used to dry beaver furs that had crossed cords much like the ones in Steve's rack. As I say, they were very rough but the principle was the same.

Nice job Steve!

[Steve Inniss]

Thank you everyone for the kind comments.

What a cool project! I really like the splines and pins. Just a little bit of detail so the frame isn't too plain and fits in well with the "look".


That's what I felt Ted, that it needed something to avoid looking too plain, although the skin is the "masterpiece" not the frame. The splines and pins also help with the strength of course.

Is this a design of your origin or is it based on traditional technique. Your son has been fortunate in many ways to have an opportunity to gain insight into one of the most fascinating cultures on the planet.

Greg, as Frank mentions, it is similar to the traditional stretchers, but they are very rough - a frame then additional pieces nailed on top over the joints to provide additional support/strength. Most Inuit live north of the tree line - NO WOOD - and would make these out of whatever wood may have drifted onshore or out of bone. Apparently, as I'm told, they would feel the frame/stretcher as I did it is quite unnecessarily overdone. You are right a most amazing culture. -Steve