Aft seat frame

I made the missing piece and glued up the aft seat frame.  The old pieces are a bit crooked, so it's not as straight as I'd like. I'll see how it looks after the glue is dry, but it might need a do-over.

Another warm day

I finished stripping the three aft seat frame pieces yesterday.  It's obvious that they spent their effort on the top side of each piece.  The bottom sides are rough sawn and the tops are sanded smooth.  Today I'm making a hardware store run to get plywood to build the stem bending form. I'm planning on using some of the plywood to make a lid for my brewing keg so I can use it as a steam generator.

Maple pieces from the farm

I found a few pieces of maple in Dad's basement to use as replacement parts on the canoe. This is maple from the big plank that was originally part of a stoneboat. The stoneboat was used to clear stones from the fields on the farm. A set of planks was milled with one end turned up about 30 degrees and attached together. A team of horses pulled this through the field, and stones were rolled onto the stoneboat to clear the field. 

I have one small piece that will be perfect for fixing the stern seat frame.  A second piece, about 2 x 3 x 30 turned out to be the perfect size to use for a replacement thwart. Only one of the thwarts (the cross pieces that tie the gunwales together) is original, and the other one is a rather crude softwood replacement. They were both originally maple, so this piece of wood will be perfect.