Closeup Detail Of Birchbark Canoe Construction Stock Photo

Birchbark canoes have a wooden frame inside a bark casing. The bark is usually chosen for its toughness and the frame is often made from cedar and ash. The bark is stripped from a birch tree and soaked in hot water to increase pliability. Bark sections are sewn together with split roots from black spruce or jack pine to form the gunwale or upper edge. Bent cedar ribs, ash gunwales, and cedar sheathing are fixed inside the bark envelope. Seams are sealed with spruce gum or rosin, a sticky residue made from pine tree sap and finished with oil inside and out.