Do they cut it out in that shape? Or do they make it flexible somehow?
In: Engineering
You can think of wood like thick paper. Paper is normally pretty rigid and firm, but get it wet and it folds in on itself. People in factories can do that with wood using steam to make the wood bendy. Then they can use molds to form the bendy wood into boat shapes.
The thinner an object is, the more you can bend it without breaking it. So if you have very thin sheets of wood, they can easily be pressed into a curved shape. If you then glue several of these curved sheets together, the glue will ensure that they keep their shape. That is how most wooden boats are made today, since this material is much more durable and water tight compared to traditional wooden planking.
For traditional boats, they bent the planks into the desired shape using heat and water.
In order to steam wood to make it bendable, you build a sealed box, place your pieces in it and attach a steam generating kettle or clothes steaming device. [This device sold by Lee Vally Tools](https://youtu.be/QRGD8GYX30s) is designed specifically for this purpose.
Canadian Northwest Coast natives are known for [their beautiful ceremonial boxes](https://douglasreynoldsgallery.com/bentwood-boxes/) which you might be interested in.
[deleted]
Wood has a certain amount of natural flex. For more substantial curves, the general practice is to steam or boil the wood and then bend it to shape and clamp, glue, screw, or otherwise restrain it; when it cools and dries, it retains its new shape.
My parents build a plywood boat in the 30’s using clamps, a steam iron and brute force. A canoe would have eve more bends, but the process is the same.
There’s an interesting kids’ book called “Rascal” by Sterling North. It’s a story of his real life as a boy who was sort of allowed to go completely free range after his mother died… his father let him adopt a baby raccoon, which is mostly what the book is about, but there’s also a subplot where he builds his own canoe (in the living room of his house.) Might be interesting to read about someone doing this in real life.
Latest Answers