Birchbark Canoe: Living Among the Algonquin

Discover the dying art of birchbark canoe building as seen through the eyes of someone who is passionate about it.

In this book, David Gidmark tells the story of the building of a traditional birchbark canoe and his apprenticeship learning the skills and the language of the Algonquin of western Quebec. Through learning how to do—how to strip the bark from the tree, fashion gunwales from the cedar logs, carve the ribs with a crooked knife, and sew the huge sheets of bark onto the frame…