Burleigh Falls cedar-strip canoe

The Burleigh Falls cedar-strip canoe is now almost finished. Installation of two new brass stembands and painter rings and this cedarstrip is out the doors.

Fresh varnish, almost done.

The canoe looks pretty good now, compared to the badly weathered and stained wreck I started out with. It now has new gunnels, deck coamings, king-planks, keel and brass stembands. It was hard work to remove those old gunnels, fastened as they were with one-hundred and fifty steel nails and twenty steel screws.

Before

Stern with fresh varnish.

Stripping out the varnish of the Burleigh Falls cedar-strip

Since the last posting, the weather has been cooperative, so I was able to strip out the varnish of the Peterborough Muskrat,

as well as both the interior and exterior of the Burleigh Falls cedar-strip.

The gray and weathered exterior did not need a lot of stripper, but the result left a lot to be desired. Several applications of bleach and two part cleaners removed most of the staining. I am letting the hull dry for only a day after the many applications of rinsing water. The swelling of the planking raises the wood around the nail-heads which are otherwise too close to the surface for any useful sanding of the hull exterior. Now I am able to get in a couple of hours of very careful sanding with 180 grit, knocking off the fuzz and raised grain.

Yesterday, I applied a couple of applications of hot 100% pure Tung Oil. The change this imparts never stops to amaze me; a warm amber cedar colour comes forward and the hot oil also swells shut much of the gaps between the planking. I apply oil until the dry planking can't absorb any more, followed by a rubbing down of the surface to remove any excess oil.