Our Wood Library

For years we’ve been building canoes and paddles in wood. It was a natural choice for people like us, people who spend a lot of time outdoors and pay attention to the materials we use. Because we value a respectful relationship with nature, we began, several years ago, creating a wood library: a collection of boards and logs that weren’t simply purchased, but whose origins we know and understand. We’re now slowly seeing the results of that work, and I’d like to share that story.

Traditionally, we use western red cedar for our canoe hulls. It is light, stable, and planes beautifully into thin strips that form a strong, flexible hull. For the trim, breasthooks, seats, thwarts and decks, we mostly work with ash, known for its toughness and elasticity.

Our paddles have long been built in ash, walnut and cherry. These are what we call common merchant woods: easy to source, reliable, and the longstanding standard in traditional paddle making.
But all of these woods come from North America, while we work, teach and paddle here. So we wanted to explore what was possible with wood that grows in our own region.

1. Via Habitus: Trees That Must Come Down

Our friends at Habitus care for trees, but sometimes trees really do need to be removed: because they’re diseased, unsafe, or already dead. Often the wood is still perfectly usable. They let us know when a trunk looks promising, and in that way a tree that would otherwise be chipped can find new life in a canoe or paddle.

2. Wood from Storm Damage

Storms and heavy winds sometimes bring trees down. These must often be cleared quickly to avoid unsafe situations. The trunks are usually still sound. For us, these finds are valuable: local wood with character, shaped by the same wind we paddle in.

3. Wood from Nature Conservation

We also purchase wood through conservation organisations such as Natuurpunt or Agentschap Natuur en Bos. This wood comes from two types of management:

• Removal of Non-native Species
  Species such as sweet chestnut, acacia (robinia), or red oak are removed because they displace our native flora. Ecologically they are undesirable, but they often yield beautiful, high-quality wood, excellent for boatbuilding and paddles.
• Habitat Restoration Projects
  Some landscapes are restored to their historical form: open grasslands bordered by hedgerows. Since the Second World War, many of these areas have grown dense with trees. Restoring them sometimes means felling even native species such as oak or beech. It feels bittersweet, but there is real satisfaction in giving this wood a second purpose.

Logs, of course, need to be sawn. We do this together with our friend Frank Vandenbussche, who mills all our wood with his mobile sawmill, exactly to our specifications.

The beauty of this approach: felling and sawing happen in the same place. No unnecessary transport, no waste. A tree is felled where it stood, milled where it lay, and then goes straight to our wood library to dry.

Through these three sources and our local milling, we now have a varied library:
acacia (robinia), maple, alder, birch, ash, oak, sweet chestnut and limewood.

We increasingly use acacia for our canoe gunwales. It falls into durability class 1–2 and is exceptionally resistant to moisture, decay and insects, comparable to tropical hardwood, but entirely European.

Ash remains our primary material for the solid-wood paddles of the Classic Line, as described in an earlier blog.

For the paddles of our Style Line, we once used the light pieces of Ayous, a West African wood species. We are now switching to poplar and birch, both locally available.
They are light, strong enough for paddle blades, and have a fine, delicate grain that reveals itself beautifully when the blade is shaped and oiled.

As our wood library grows, we continue to look for special pieces of wood. We are especially interested in walnut and cherry, but any remarkable trunk or set of boards is worth letting us know about.

Important: felling is always carried out by professional arborists and in a safe manner.

If you think you have something for us, feel free to contact us. A tree that might otherwise be cut up for firewood can, with a bit of care, become a paddle, a gunwale, or a canoe that will last for many years.