In the native cultures, birch bark was used for many purposes beyond canoes and transportation. These include baskets and containers for water, grains and many other uses. They were often decorated with bark etchings, or more elaborate ornamentation using dyed porcupine quill designs and sweet grass bandings. The bark containers shown here are all made with traditional patterns and methods.

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The crooked knife is the heart of traditional bark canoe building methods. It is used in almost all phases of construction to shape, pare, shave and fashion split ribs, gunwales thwarts and stems to name a few. A comfortable and effective tool, it draws on the larger muscle mass of the entire arm instead of the wrist action and grip of the conventional knife. Its companions are the three sided awl, punch awl and small chisel. These are personal tools and are trusty companions in the hands of the bark canoe builder. They can be customized with carvings and cord wrappings.

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Paddle-to-the–Sea, the famous canoe and paddler immortalized in Holling C. Holling’s classic story about a native boy in the Lake Superior headlands that carves and paints a model canoe inscribed with the instructions, “I am paddle to the sea. Put me back in the water.” The story follows Paddle through many perilous adventures from his start in Superior country and through the Great Lakes until his eventual discovery by a lighthouse keeper on the north Atlantic coast. This is an exact replica in every detail.

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After working in the bush collecting materials for bark canoe building and other outdoor ventures, I became interested in making scale models of camp equipment such as a working woodstove, axe, tent, saw and other accouterments. All are built to precise scale and are fully functional. They are organized here into a typical bush camp scene.

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