A Coracle in Texas

[Jeff Scharp]

Over the weekend some of us (Terry Sebolt, Bob Rafferty and myself) took the first steps in making a coracle. We scoped out materials well in advance, and also learned the best time of year to get the sticks is right now (late winter). The stand of willow we took the sticks from was along the roadside in a rural area. It took two of us about an hour to gather everything we needed. The sticks we very flexible at this point even though there were no leaves. Scratching the bark revealed a bright green layer telling us that these sticks were itching to bloom.


















Weaving the wicker and bending the whole frame took a little less than 3 hours. We took our time since we were learning from this. We figured only four hours total was put into it. What once seemed like a daunting task proved to be quite simple.

We're not sure how much weight is on top, but it could be at least a 1/3 ton. The pallet helped create a flat surface to compress it. The picture may not show it very well, but the sticks under the pallet were pressed flat. Hopefully the sticks will dry that way and make the coracle have a flat bottom.

Later this month we'll get a fresh unsalted hide from a bull and flesh it and stretch it over the frame. The skin can be ordered locally from a butcher shop for an attractive price. Texas does have it benefits with all our cattle.

More to come when we get to working on the hide!

[Alex Hovorka]

Wonderful. It looks great.

[Will Marshall-Hall]

Hey Nice work guys. Three more of us coracle makers and three less of them...:o) I'm really interested to see how it goes with the bullhide as I have only used heavy canvas pitched to waterproof it.

[Ben Abbott]

Looks like that's going to be great! Are you going for a particular style of coracle (Severn, daffyth, etc.) or are you letting the willow dictate the shape? I made one two years ago, but it is another modern construction one with plywood laths, and sealed canvas skin. It sure floats, however! Here's a picture of Mora paddling it around:


Good luck with yours,
-Otuell
P.S. Be careful of that willow stuck in the ground. It will sprout roots, and start to grow! It's a pretty durable, and prolifically self-rooting thing!

[Jeff Scharp]

Hey Ben, that looks like a good size for a coracle there. even with a properly designed paddle. Ours is probably just a little smaller. It's not following a particular style, rather the most basic form and slightly longer than wide. We're just getting the basics down at this point! The sticks on our coracle were not bent evenly across either due to their slight differences in thickness, something that would be solved using laths. However, once it was compressed it all evened out almost like magic. We would like to think that the compressed sticks will dry mostly like that and the rawhide will hold it that way.

On a few places we used hemp cord to repair a split or to tie neighboring sticks together as needed. We felt this was a more durable choice than leather lacing. Red was saying that the tannin in the bark could help it from deteriorating when it gets wet. The coracle isn't expected to last for very many years anywho, so the cordage is a relatively minor thing. (Here in Texas the coracle is an edible object to pets, wildlife and insects!)

Good to know about the sprouting willows. I have a place to plant some willow and hazel so I can coppice my own sticks for future coracles, baskets, wattles and furniture.

[Jeff Scharp]

Last Wednesday Bob Rafferty picked up the bull hide from the butcher and kept it cool until Saturday when we could start to scrape it. It was a full size hide, all black, from a Kobe bull. We met up at Terry Sebolt's home where we built the frame. The skin at first looked way too big for the frame we had built, and it seemed to be able to stretch a lot.

Scraping was done with flint tools. We tried some other things including a knives, but in the end the thin sharp flint scrapers we by far the best tool for removing the fat, sinew and bits of meat. You'll see the hide was still a little bloody (which was to be expected). It didn't stink or smell bad at all. It smelled like raw hamburger, and was greasy just like that.

Starting to scrape the fresh hide.

The flint tools were the best thing for removing fat, sinew and meat right down to the hide.

After a few hours of scraping, we stretched it over the frame (still in the ground) to see how much more we had to scrape.

The mostly-scraped hide over the coracle frame.

Yum! A bucket o' fat and sinew!

At some point we decided to just soak the hide overnight (Okay, so we were hungry, and a little sore from all this work!). This was also to make it super pliable and get it where we could scape it one more time really good. Terry had a 50 gallon bucket of icy cold rainwater that did the trick. Upon soaking it we knew we had to finish it the next day, or else the soaking hide for an extended period meant loosing it's hair.

The next morning we pulled the frame out of the ground and trimmed the willow, moved the seat further down, and did a little fine tuning in general.

We laid the wet hide out on the driveway to hose it down and do some final scraping. We got as close to the edge as we felt was necessary, knowing that the edges were going to be trimmed off while we stitched it on. By now the blood is mostly washed away and the scraping is a breeze on the pavement.

We laid the hide on the deck, hair-side up, and put the coracle frame on it right-side up. Then we just flopped the hide over the gunwales and make it even and remove any wrinkles.

Hide is secured over the seat (9 o'clock).

The hide was first secured at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, then laced around the perimeter. The hemp cord is doing a fair job and seemed strong enough while lacing it. However, now that the edges are trimmed we have some thick rawhide laces for the next coracles. The thickness at the tail end was a little over a 1/4 inch thick when fresh.

A penny next to the thick fresh hide to show how thick it is.

Terry finished up the lacing and sewing. He also turned it over to dry.

Trimming more of the edge.

Just a little more to go.

Pretty soon we'll be able to take it out on the water!

[Terry Sebolt]

Hoorah! I've got the day off tomorrow, so I'll do the next check. It's been drying upside down over some bricks for about 30 hours, now. I'm going to let it air dry until about noon tomorrow. I can't wait to get it out on the water.

The scraps were layed out to dry a bit, then tossed back in rain water today. I'll pull them out to dry first thing, and They should be ready to cut after a couple hours.

Also, Cindy and I rendered a bunch of the fat that we removed from the skin. We did a wet render, and then Cindy strained and clarified it this afternoon. We now have approximately 45 ounces of good, clean tallow. Should be good for frying eggs, making soups, making candles, or conditioning and waterproofing leather and hide. Such versatile stuff! And makes a nice hand cream while working it.

I'll post pics of the success or failure. Either way, it'll be worth looking at.

Redg

[Sarida]

Coritanii Coracle Contruction Company ROCKS! Keeping it authentic, keeping it real. It was great to hang with the "coracle crew" saturday evening.

Thanks for the weaving cards, Red. Bring on the Highland Games!

Sarida / Saraid
Weaver for the Texas Coritanii

[Terry Sebolt]

WoW! So much to talk about. So much I've learned. But, that's for another post when I have more time (and my fingers aren't so cut up and sore).

The long and short of it...the coracle floats! There are some pics in the Gallery. Even more to follow.
http://www.kelticos.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1231

This is me punting on the local pond. In the last pic, I'm kind of tilting the coracle too much to get the pole all the way down, and I took on a little water, but it was easy to straighten up, and I stayed on the water for another 20 minutes, or so, followed by Cindy for 10 minutes. It was getting dark, so we packed it up and went home. There is one small hole that was patched but still needs to be plugged with tallow. All in all, I'd call it a success. Now we need to make an oar, toss in Cindy's net and get a little practice rowing and casting. Who's up for an early morning raid on the island across the water?

Redg

[Siani O.]

Wow! That is so full of awesome sauce! Great job guys!

:)

Siani

[Jeff Scharp]

Who's up for an early morning raid on the island across the water?

Me!

That's awesome! I'm so glad to hear it works so well. And no problems with it not being sealed? Earlier I thought we might need to seal it with lanolin but now I'm guessing it's still so fresh and greasy that it's not needed. (All the lanolin finally arrived yesterday! Arrrrgh.) Oooh- and it dried to a nice brown color. I like the way it looks. Thanks for posting the great pictures.

More questions:

1. Did the seat hold up okay?

2. The soaking wet hide took two of us to carry it. Now that it's dry and complete, how much does the complete coracle weigh?

[Terry Sebolt]

Sorry for the short answers. Long days at work and two cut fingers from Bob's small flint blade. It works great, but will cut fingers just as easily as beef. And a slice across the tip of the index finger makes it really hard to type.

Yes, the seat held up fine. I found it easier to sit straddling the seat, just for balance sake.

Yes, it's quite a bit lighter. I carried it by myself across to the pond and back. It was a little heavy to carry that distance, but I can certainly lift it over my head with just my arms.

It's getting darker, but I think it is mostly because it is getting translucent while drying and the hair on the inside is thick and black. It didn't soak up much (if any) water. The only wetness was superficial, or overflow. It sheds water wonderfully without any sealant. If we feel it must be sealed, I think we should use the tallow. It makes more sense, really. It comes from the same hide, and was easy to collect and render in one day. And it's a solid at room temperature, which makes it easy to contain and carry, and can be used to plug holes. I think lanolin would be much harder to collect and transport.

Just a few thoughts. I know how we can make the next one better. I'll start another thread on the things I learned when my fingers heal.

Redg

[Alex Hovorka]

Did you season the willow?

[Terry Sebolt]

We bent it green, and then let it sit in the right shape for a couple of weeks.

[Alex Hovorka]

Usually with baskets and things they loosen significantly if you weave them green and let them dry but I suppose the rawhide would keep it together pretty well.

[Terry Sebolt]

That's the idea. We were afraid that if we seasoned the wood, it might not have the bend we needed since it was kind of thick. We didn't have a way to soak the long staves properly, so green would give us the proper bend. We figured that in period, most coracles were put together in a short period of time. You fit the frame to the hide, and you might slaughter only one large animal in a year. So they probably didn't spend a long period of time prepping the wood. Pure speculation on our part, but it makes sense.

So far, the rawhide has been doing exactly as we expected. It's dried nicely. It has no smell, and has attracted no bugs. It has a light layer of oil and melted fat that has kept it from getting too dry, and helps waterproof it. You can watch the oil rise on it in the rain. When it is dry, it is tight as a drum. You can literally beat out a tune on the bottom of it. The rawhide actually puts more stress on the wood, compressing it further.

I think we're onto a winner here. There will be a few minor design changes on the next one, I think, but this one is awesome, so far.

Redg