Contact me at: rrcp@mts.net or by phone 204.878.2524

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Lots of stuff goes on in this shop, located in Lorette, Manitoba.

Primarily it's the building and repair of classic wood & canvas canoes, and the making of premium canoe paddles. I also do custom boat building, composite fabrication, and special projects. A growing passion of mine is the making of classical guitars, I'll post about that, too.


I want to be able to share with my clients the progress of their commissioned work. Later I started thinking that there might be other people who are interested in what goes on inside a wooden canoe shop operated by an artist and a recovering teacher.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email, phone, or by post. My mailing address is:

Red River Canoe & Paddle
24249 River Rd
Lorette, Manitoba
Canada
R5K 0Z6




Sunday 15 September 2013

Progress on the DIY Clairtone Project G is inching along.  First, my friend Eric made up these ferrules for the end of the speaker support arm.  Eric is an accomplished woodworker and has been doing some volunteer work at the Western Canadian Aviation Museum where he has access to a metal lathe.

On top the ferrules the Project G had a 10" aluminium disc that acted as a support to stabilize the speaker globe.  I don't have any facility to make such a disc from metal though I do have facility to make it from fibreglass and make it look like aluminium.  I used the shell that I had made up for determining the holes patterns as a mold.  Once the pieces were cleaned up and sanded I was able to paint them with aluminium  spray paint.  In order to get the tool marks that would have come from spinning the metal, I secured the parts to a pottery wheel and applied 100 grit paper to create the circular texture.  Once painted again, the effect is quite convincing, especially as this will be underneath the globes and you will have to kneel down on the floor to even see them!

I also treated the back shells of the globes the same way.



 
 
 
 
 
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And the old Peterborough is all finished. Four coats of new paint and varnish should protect it for many years to come. I also managed to put on a new 75th anniversary decal, the result of a very generous gift last summer. A little more on the history of this canoe. The present owner bought in in about 1955 along with another same model canoe. The canoes were new at the time and had just completed a trip from Yellowknife NWT to Baker Lake, Nunavut.

 
 
 
 
 
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Sunday 1 September 2013

A reproduction of a Kildonan "Timber Cruiser" that I built 6 years ago is in for a little TLC. This canoe gets used regularly and on last years trips is hit some rocks pretty hard. I am happy to report that all that happened is some broken planking! Still, the owners wanted it dealt with, so the still in excellent condition canvas had to come off and a re-canvas is part of the repair work. 
 By the way, this is the canoe that is in the banner of the web forum "My Canadian Canoe Routes".   An interesting story about this, I was looking at the forum one day and the canoe in the banner caught my eye.  "Nice canoe" I say to myself.  Then something about it jogged my memory, there was something familiar about it.  "Looks a lot like how I'd build a canoe." I say to myself.  Then I look closer.  "Hey!" I say to myself, "That IS a canoe that I built myself!"  I followed up with the MYCCR forum staff.  It seems that they were unaware that the web designers had simply lifted the canoe photo from this website and had used it without permission nor credit.  I was simultaneously peeved to be ignored yet glad to be recognized, albeit anonymously.
http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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After restoring the 1920's and the 1930's Bailey handplanes, I began to feel that my 198's Record handplane could us a little upgrade.  The handles never really felt comfortable or solid so I made some new ones from some White Oak that I had around.  I also repainted the metal body a deep red to go with the Oak.  That old Record blue was kind of meh...

 
 
 
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And a new paddle last week, too. This one had the logo for the Rainbow Trout Music Festival applied to it. This paddle was an appreciation gift that the festival was giving to the owners of the property. Northwoods grip with a Malecite blade made in Cherry. The design is first printed on paper, then transferred to the paddle using old school carbon paper, and inked in. Finally, it is varnished over. If you ever try this at home, give the paddle as sealer coat of varnish first!

 
 
 
 
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The 1955 Peterborough is moving right along.  The woodwork on the trim and hull is completed, the interior is sanded thoroughly and has 4 coats of Epifanes varnish, the canvas is on and filled, and new outer gunnels are made, installed, and sanded.  I'll be working on the trim varnish over the next few work days, then painting.

 
 
 
 
 
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