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How To Photograph Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca People email regularly asking me to identify their canoe and/or give them an estimate on a restoration. When I ask them to send me some...
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A Restorers’ Guide to a Thompson Brothers Ranger Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Peter and Christ Thompson built wood-canvas canoes in Peshtigo, Wisconsin (about 50 miles north of Green Bay) as the Thompson Brothers...
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How To Buy or Sell a Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Frequently, I get an email from someone who is looking to sell their wood-canvas canoe. Typically, they tell me, “The canoe has been...
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The Evolution of Factory-Built Wooden Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca (photo by Nick Dennis) Fundamental to any canoe restoration is understanding what you are dealing with. The scope of this blog is...
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How to Get Information About Your Old Wooden Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Fundamental to any canoe restoration is understanding what you are dealing with. This blog examines a number of ways to answer some...
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A Restorer’s Guide to Tremblay Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Of the lesser known canoe manufacturers in Canada, Tremblay Canoes Limited (Les Canots Tremblay Limitée) from St. Félicien, Québec stand...
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Chestnut Canoes: An Identification Guide to their Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca In Canada, the canoes from the Chestnut Canoe Company set the standard by which all others are measured. Now, thirty-nine years after...
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Weaving the Peterborough Pattern in Wood-Canvas Canoe Seats
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca In my book, This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe, I describe how to weave natural cane (rattan) in Chestnut canoe...
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The Keel Question in Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca If there is an area of controversy in the world of wood-canvas canoes, the question of the keel would be it. Historically, canoes (and...
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How to Rebuild Solid-Wood Long Decks in Fancy Antique Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Many “fancy” antique wooden canoes have beautiful up-swept sheer-lines at the ends. The curved end profile in many canoes built by canoe...
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How To Repair Highly Curved Ends on Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Many fancy canoes have “pretty” end profiles. Canoes such as the Old Town HW, Yankee, Charles River and OTCA models are familiar...
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How To Assemble a Repair Kit for a Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca As I was completing the restoration of an 18′ Chestnut Prospector Vee-Stern canoe for a client, he asked me to create a wood-canvas...
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How To Weave a Standard 6-Stage Pattern for Caned Canoe Seats (Old Town,...
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca In my book, This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe, I describe how to weave natural cane (rattan) in Chestnut canoe...
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How To Weave the Stern Seat in a Rushton Indian Girl Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca While restoring a 1905 J.H. Rushton Indian Girl canoe, I made new seat frames and wove natural cane (rattan) in a standard 6-stage...
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How To Build Cradles (Display Stands) for Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Once you’ve got your canoe out of the shed for the season, you’ll need some way of supporting it off the ground when it is not on the...
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How to Repair Loose Stem-Bands in a Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Wood-canvas canoes are works of art. However, in Canada, they are also working boats. They help their owners navigate large, rapid...
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How to Install a Keel on a Wood-Canvas Canoe
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Speaking strictly in terms of form and function, canoes and keels don’t belong together. Canoes are designed to sideslip easily in...
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How to Repair Cracked Ribs in Wood-Canvas Canoes
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Sometimes, in the course of your restoration, you may discover a cracked rib in your canoe. The damage may not warrant replacement of...
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How to Rebuild a Rotted End in an Old Town Otca Wood-Canvas Canoe — Part 1
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca Water tends to collect in the ends of wood-canvas canoes when they are used on a regular basis. This moist environment creates perfect...
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How to Rebuild a Rotted End in an Old Town Otca Wood-Canvas Canoe ̶ Part 2
by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@canoeshop.ca I started describing the process involved in rebuilding the end of a 1967 18′ Old Town Otca canoe in part 1 of this blog. In it, I...
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