AY Honors/Canoe Building/Answer Key
1. What trees in your area are used for building canoes? Name them in your language. Are they considered softwoods or hardwoods?
In the Pacific Islands, dugout canoes are very large, made from whole mature trees and fitted with outriggers for increased stability in the ocean, and were once used for long-distance travel. Such are the very large waka used by Māori who ventured to New Zealand many centuries ago. Such vessels carried 40 to 80 warriors in sheltered waters or smaller numbers thousands of miles across the Pacific ocean. In Hawaii, canoes are traditionally manufactured from the trunk of the koa (Acacia koa) tree. They typically carry a crew of six: one steersman and five paddlers.
In Africa, African Teak is the timber favored for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, and is in short supply in some areas.
2. What trees are used for building canoes, softwoods or hardwoods?
Canoes are made from both, depending on the regional preferences.
Trees belonging to the genus Acacia are used in both the South Pacific and in Africa. Acacias are hardwoods. Canoes were made in the Pacific Northwest of North America from Douglas fir, which is a softwood. In eastern North America, dugouts were made from chestnut, tulip tree (both hardwoods), or pine (a softwood). In Venezuela, the Ye'kwana make canoes from Spanish Cedar (Cedrela odorata) which is another softwood.
3. What tools are used for building canoes? Start with felling the tree up to completion.
- Ax
- Machete
- Adze
- Scrapers
- Wedges (to hold the canoe in place)
- Scaffolding
- Drill and bit
4. Choose a good canoe tree about four meters in length and observe the correct felling of it. Explain what happened.
The Wampanoag (a Native American tribe) felled canoe trees by packing mud around the trunk and building a fire around the base. The mud would prevent the upper portion of the trunk from burning while the lower portion was consumed. Eventually, the tree would fall.
Other cultures simply cut the tree down with an ax. In doing this, care must be taken to control the direction in which the tree falls when it comes down. This is done by cutting a notch on the side corresponding to the direction of fall. This notch should be cut until it is just over half way through the trunk. Then another notch is cut on the other side, but higher than the first.
In South America, the bulk of the hollowing of the trunk is done right where the tree falls. It is turned in place until the portion of the trunk that will become the keel is on the ground, and then rocks, dirt, and other debris are packed around the trunk to keep it from rolling. The tree is then mostly hollowed out with adzes. This is done so that the tree is much lighter when it is time to drag it out of the jungle.
