7-Hollowing Out the Canoe - NW Coast Indian Canoe Project

Executive Productions-Seattle produced a series of 11 videos for the Jayhawk Institute describing how to make a traditional Northwest Coast Indian Canoe from a cedar tree or log.

The Canoe Legacy Project provides insights into both traditional and modern techniques of how to shape, carve and steam (spread) the cedar log into an elegant seaworthy canoe. A Salish style canoe, typically used on the quiet waters of The Salish Sea (incl. Puget Sound) was chosen for the project.

Hollowing out the canoe is probably the most demanding task in the canoe carving process because of the amount of material to be removed, difficult working positions and precision required. A chain saw helps to get started but a few weeks using a variety of hand tools by experienced carvers is still required. No wonder Lewis and Clark marveled at the detailed workmanship compared to the crude log dugouts they made.

The NW Coast Canoe Video series is supported and partially funded by the Suquamish, The Port Gamble S'Klallam and the Puyallup Tribes. The Suquamish Museum has a 300 year-old Salish Style Canoe on display, in addition to many other Salish cultural art and artifacts.
http://suquamishmuseum.org/

For more information on the JayHawk Institute and how you can help, go to:
http://jayhawkinstitute.org

For more information about our work, contact Rich Deline, 206-780-2500 http://www.execproductions.com