Home > Ojibwa Transportation > Build a Birchbark Canoe Step 3
Building Birch Bark Canoes
Preparing the Site & Gathering Supplies
Birch bark canoes are best built directly on a soft spot on the ground and in the shade so that the bark doesn't dry out and become brittle.
If you don't have access to a leafy forest site it's a good idea to build a temporary shelter because the birch bark can't be worked well if it dries out.
Canoe shelters used to be made from poles and bark, but I won't laugh if you just string up a tarpaulin.
When you build birchbark canoes it's nice to have a good supply of sand or at least some soft clean dirt close at hand. It can be piled up around the outside of the bark to hold the canoe in place at various stages of the construction process.
You'll also need to build a plywood (or strip wood) frame that must be the same size as the gunwales of your proposed canoe. The frame can be used over and over to build other birch bark canoes so your labour won't go to waste.
If you aren't going to build your canoe beside a lake or river you'll also have to create a system that will allow you to soak the big roll of birch bark (an old bathtub works well, but you could also drape a plastic tarpaulin inside a large wooden crate and fill it with water to create the same effect.
A system of steaming wood is also useful...though pouring hot water over the canoe ribs before you attempt to install them is an alternative. Keep in mind that prehistoric canoe makers didn't have access to today's technology yet built canoes that could have lasted thirty or forty years.
