> I have a birch tree that needs to be cut down. Would the limbs on this
> tree be suitable to make the ribs for an Alaska Recovery kayak? Wolfgang
> Brink uses willow and I was wondering whether birch would work as well.

> Mike

The birch branches should work for ribs, but why ignore the rest of the tree?

After you remove the branches you can try to remove the birch bark, and cut the rest of the trunk into lumber. Even if it is a slim tree you should be able to get material you can use for wood strips of various thicknesses for other parts on your kayak. Thin strips from the trunk might even bend more evenly for use as ribs, and you could laminate several thin strips together with epoxy resin to get the desired size ribs, without needing to steam bend anything.

If you want to bend these things while they are still green, prepare your bending jigs ahead of time. Cut off a branch, Split it down the middle and bend it to shape.

I'd use a bandsaw to split the branches. In the past I've done this freehand -- just playing with some tree trimmings -- and I'm not too pleased with the results. It was not to difficult to stay in the middle of the branch, but the limb flopped around and twisted as it went through the saw, and the cut was irregular.

I think you should devise some kind of cradle or jig that would hold the branch and provide a straight edge to guide the work through the saw. Of course all the branches will be of unique sizes and twist, bend kink and wiggle in unique places, so such a jig is going to be fun to design. The simplest I can think of would be to tie the branch to a 2x4 that was nearly as long as the branch, using twine or string. A wedge or piece of scrap wood between the thin end of the branch and the 2x4 would serve to center the branch. Then run it through the saw, feeding the samll end of the branch in first, and cut the branch and the string that binds it, at the same time. This would be a pain, because of all the little pieces of string that you would have to pull out of your saw between cuts, so maybe someone will devise something better.

Once you get a reasonable flat cut on the branch you can use this as a guide and run the branch through the saw to cut strips or thin the branch to your desired size. Pull the bark off before you cut your branch too thin. When it is the thickness you want bend it on your jig and let it aside set to dry. With no bark on, and with the center of the branch exposed to the air (from your splitting) the wood should dry nicely without cracking, and hold the bent shape after it is removed from the jig.

When you go to pull down the main trunk -- if you have to pull it down in pieces -- try to make them at least 6 feet long. Longer is better. You can later scarf lumber from these into longer materials. Commercial tree trimmers (if you are using one) like to cut the trees down by chopping the trunks into fireplace-length chunks, but if you tell them you want longer pieces, they'll probably oblige.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, damp birch rots easily. Saturate it with epoxy to seal out moisture after the wood has dried.

Hope these ideas are of some help.

Paul G. Jacobson