Listen to the sound of the chainsaw.

Posted on December 24, 2007

I have often been asked where I get my wood from to make my canoes. One would think that I must be a good customer of the few lumberyards we do have on Oahu or that I must be flying to the Big Island to get my Koa. Well, to be honest, its none of those. Yes, I do buy some veneer on E-bay from time to time, but for the rest nature supplies me most of the wood I need, and this for free. Now if woodworking is your hobby and you wonder where could you could get that ivory looking Tamarind or the golden Jackfruit wood for free, all you need to do is to follow the noise of the chainsaw and find out what kind tree somebody is cutting. You will be surprised how fast you will end up with a huge pile of wood. Here are the wood species I got this way in the last 2 weeks: Koa acacia, Koa formosa, Jack Aranda, Jackfruit, Monkeypod, beautiful wood that would have found its way into the shredder would I not have followed the sound of the chainsaw.

I am just a woodworker.

Posted on December 18, 2007

My close friend Keith C. from Guernsey, Channel Islands, told me one day that a good way to avoid being asked to many questions about one’s profession or business is simply to tell people that I am a truck driver and that this is what I do for a living.. Here in Hawaii I have taken habit of saying “I am a woodworker” interesting…Because you see when I say what I am really doing I am afraid to put most people into the embarrassing situation of either having to false praise me for what they think are well made toys, or be at a loss of words when I mention to them the price of those so called toys. Many understand that it takes hours, days, weeks or months to make those canoe models, and few realize that it requires in depth knowledge of the craft or canoe in order to be able to execute a scale model of it. Somehow I feel uneasy talking about my work and prefer the “work” to talk on my behalf. You see, this way I do not inconvenience those who are not interested in canoe models, while still leaving it to admirers and collectors to take pleasure in it. I am just a woodworker whose work will talk well beyond me writing this blog

THE DECK

Posted on December 16, 2007

Once again I was thinking about those well cut planks of wood covering the deck of ancient voyaging canoes. At least this is what it seems to be when looking at some paintings, especially those by Herb Kane. I already stated in a prior comment that I strongly believe that the Polynesian people were capable to cut planks, or at least to have knowledge of species of wood that can be easily split with the help of wedges in order to make planks. Lets have a quick look at an ancient Hawaiian fishing canoe: there is the hull which is carved out of a tree log, than there are the two tops or manus, often carved out from the foot of the Ahakea tree, than we have the outriggers for which Hau was the ideal flexible wood ; for the ama or float wili wili was used for its buoyancy, but the canoe would not be seaworthy without the addition of rims or gunwales to the top of the hull, and see here, those are the only parts of the canoe that are actually planks of wood cut out from the Ahakea tree, which is a wood that splits very easily.
The Ahakea is a fairly short tree, reaching a maximum height of 30 to 35 feet.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Polynesians, or for that matter all the people of Oceania not only had a profound knowledge of their environment but also knew how to use it to their advantage with the least of efforts. If in today’s world we equip ourselves with a multitude of tools to fashion a little bench or mount a shelve, it was nature which provided the necessary material to the Oceanic people to build canoes using only an adze, sennit, and their knowledge of the flora of their islands.
Now having said that, how could they fashion 80 to 90 feet long planks ? What species of wood could they have been using that splits easily along its grain ? Would there have been a tree of that size available on the Marquesas ? To my knowledge, the Albizia lebbeck was and still is the tallest tree available on those islands but not really suitable for the making of planks.
So my question is whether the deck of those long ocean going voyaging canoes were covered with 80 to 90 feet long planks, and if yes what kind of tree would they have been using for this? Could it be that the deck was made with another material, or by adding length of planks until all the beams were covered ? I truly can’t believe in the latter as it would have made any double hull canoe extremely dangerous to sail.

The Amatasi canoe.

Posted on December 13, 2007

My first comment regarding this canoe dates back 12/5/07 and when writing it I really thought to have the canoe finished by the following day.
I should have known better. Indeed it took me a few more days to finish the sail and rig the canoe. Has it ever happened to you that you visualize this or that project you intend to do and in your mind things look pretty easy ? Like changing a faucet…piece of cake…or the door lock. no sweat…and you find yourself battling with tape measurer, screw drivers and chasing a ton of other tools and appliances down the nearest hardware store over a few hours, even days ? Well, I may have all the tools necessary to build ship and canoe models, and still it took me another 5 days to finish the darn canoe. The trouble started when having to lash the counterweight boom to the hull. When making a model, assembling steps have to be done in a very chronological way. If not, one will loose enormous amount of time working around things were space to use tools is at a premium ! I had also forgotten to install the mast step prior to lash down the beams. Also, the rigging of the sail was much more difficult than what I had imagined. All those difficulties added up and it took me 5 more days to finish the model. I was very happy with the end result but would not like to do a similar model. It will stay one of a kind.

Mayhem in Paradise

Posted on December 6, 2007

After the sunshine, the rain. In all my many years living in Hawaii, this is the first time, and I admit this readily, that I got scared. It all happened overnight, towards 3.00 AM. The wind suddenly picked up, doors started slamming, gusts of wind rolled down the valley like a thunder, whistling through the palm trees and our big albizia back in the yard. I could hear branches snapping off, empty buckets flying around the yard, and sheets of water falling from the black sky. The house was shaking. Blackout……
Where’s the flashlight, the emergency box. It was not the wind that scared me, or the thunder or lightning’s. But the visualization of this 110 foot albizia tree toppling over and falling over our house. It’s only a few days ago that I witnessed another albizia tree been uprooted by strong winds. The storm receded towards 4. 00 AM but the fright it created so suddenly would not let me go to sleep again until daylight, and when daylight came, things had moved, other things had come down and the entire valley looked like having been stricken by a hurricane. It became another long day in paradise without power, internet connection and what not.

The Amatasi canoe

Posted on December 5, 2007

It took me nearly the entire day to lash and brace the iakos to the ama of this new canoe. Speak about how much the plumber would have charged me for same amount of hours! True, it is the first time I do the Amatasi, which is very similar to the Pao Pao, only with a larger body and with 4 booms instead of 2 . There are 8 paired stanchions connecting the booms, or 2 pairs per boom. In addition there needs to be a vertical brace for connecting each boom to the float. Further to this the Amatasi is decorated with a beautifully carved finial sitting at the bow of the canoe. Tomorrow I will complete the canoe by mounting its paneled sail.

COPYRIGHT © 2007 Journal of Francis Pimmel • Powered by Wordpress and 555 Theme by eMarc • Original Source By Brian Gardner.