Author: trevor

Resurrected (Edited)

trevor

mea culpa I posted this earlier incorrectly stating that the restoration was done by Carrying Place Canoe and Boat Works up in Kleinburg, Ontario. Turns out I got some wires crossed while talking to the folks about it. Carrying Place came up in conversation as we were talking about paddlemaking, and I apparently retroactively applied that to the canoe restoration. While Carrying Place does beautiful work, the restoration was in fact done by Jim Spencer of Spencer Canoe Company in Muskoka, and the post has been updated to reflect this.…

What is this paddling thing I always say?

trevor

paddle your own canoe. I sign off like this often — it’s a mantra that guides a lot of what I do. It’s something my family’s said to me forever. On its surface, it means find your own course, do your own thing. Be independent. Don’t let someone else put you in a box and tell you where you’re supposed to go. But paddling isn’t just about driving yourself somewhere. The canoe as a mode of transportation isn’t as bruising as a motorboat, isn’t as clumsy and backwards as a…

The Longest Paddle: A Story of Woodworking and Carving Out a Family

trevor
paddlemaking tools

When I finished cleaning my tools and putting them away after finally finishing carving my 6-year-old’s stepdaughter’s first paddle today, I had to wonder why it had been so long since I worked on it. A little background. My family has deep ties in Algonquin Park, and a lot of my family’s history has to do with rangers and guiding and paddling. Through Omer Stringer, we have ties to most of the major camps in Algonquin Park and to Roots through the Beaver Canoe brand. This is no brag; it’s…