Out of birch bark, we make Eastern Woodlands and Great Lakes style mukoks, quivers, ricing trays, and pack baskets as well as canoes. We work with our local foresters to obtain high quality birch bark. Trees that they have already selected for cutting and marketing are cut carefully without damaging any of the bark. We are then allowed to peel the trees before they are sectioned and stacked with the other logs. Thus, no trees are cut or damaged unnecessarily.
Our birch bark canoes are made with strict attention to details. Typically, the bottoms are one piece of bark, thus eliminating the need for seams on the bottom. Side panels are then added as necessary. Ribs, planking, inner and outer gunwales and gunwale caps are hand split from high quality cedar logs. All lashing is done with spruce roots, including the decorative stitching on the ends. Our hardwood thwarts are delicately carved, morticed, pegged, and lashed in place. Man boards are carved from cedar and painted with natural earth paints.
Our canoes can be seen at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis , Indiana, the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania and the Fort Miami Museum in St. Joseph, Michigan. Our twenty- six foot canoe now at the Heinz History Center also traveled to the National Museum of War in Ontario, Canada and then to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
