Unlike many birch bark canoe builders, Tom Byers does not use power tools or milled lumber in canoe construction!
He follows the traditional construction techniques used by craftsmen before him. Using only a few simple tools, such as the crooked knife, froe, hatchet, wood mallet, awl and shaving horse, Tom transforms material collected directly from the forest into functional works of art.
Each canoe is hand built by Tom and takes a minimum of 350 hours to complete.
A typical canoe consists of selected high grade birch bark, over 35 hand-split cedar ribs, 50 wafer-thin cedar sheathing, full-length gunwales and pegged caps, deck ends, birch thwarts, about 500 feet of spruce/jack pine root lacing, and two quarts of spruce gum/bear fat waterproofing.
Graceful lines and natural beauty are the hallmark of Tom Byer’s canoes. Each canoe shape and character arises from the bark upon which it is formed. No two are alike.