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Chippewa Canoe Pitch: Spruce Gum Boiled Clean in a Mesh Bag, Skimmed and Mixed with Cedar Charcoal (Densmore, 1928)
The Chippewa (Ojibwe) calking for birch-bark canoes and pails, from Frances Densmore's record: spruce gum boiled in a wide-meshed bag so the bits of wood and bark stay behind, the clean gum skimmed off the water, stored, and later mixed with charcoal made from cedar.
Beginner
An hour or two
Instructions
1
1
Read Densmore
Read Densmore
"Spruce gum was considered best for use in calking canoes and birch-bark pails."
2
2
Boil the gum clean
Boil the gum clean
Put raw spruce gum in a wide-meshed bag and boil it in water. The bag keeps back the bits of wood and bark; the gum passes out into the water.
Materials for this step:
Pine/spruce Resin1 piece
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Nylon Mesh Bag
Iron Kettle
Fire Pit3
3
Skim and store
Skim and store
Skim the gum off the surface and store it until it is needed.
Tools needed:
Skimming Spoon4
4
Mix with cedar charcoal
Mix with cedar charcoal
Crush charcoal made from cedar and mix it into the gum. She gives no proportion; ours: warm the gum until soft, stir in the charcoal a little at a time until it is stiff, test a drop on cold bark, and apply it warm to the seams.
Materials for this step:
Charcoal1 pieceTools needed:
Stone Mortar and PestleIron KettleFire Pit
Wooden Paddle5
5
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Canoe pitch troubleshooting.
Flow
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6
6
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Frances Densmore, *Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians*, **44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology** (1928), p. 379 (checked on the archive.org scan usesofplantsbych00dens). Small birch-bark containers were sometimes calked instead with chewed slippery elm bark. Amounts, the charcoal ratio, warming and the test are ours.
Materials
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Tools Required
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