Day 1!

With the sun beaming down on Butser Ancient Farm the time had come to begin this summers boat build project. The aim of the day was to remove most of the bark from the parent log of The Eurybia and to start flattening in the bottom of the log.

The bark of the log was removed using a cow scapula. Bone is a much under rated material for tools and the thin shoulder blades slid underneath the bark easily allowing it to be prized off. The removal of the bark in one stage makes the building of the rest of the boat much easier as cut marks and levels can be seen a lot easier without the bark obscuring them.

Using a cow scapula tool to remove the bark from The Eurybia's parent log.

Making the bottom of a log boat flat is important as it increases the boats stability once it is in the water. All known archaeological examples of log boats have these flat bottoms. Bronze adzes are being used to flatten the bottom of the boat. Although the build mainly aims to be a 'stone age' project, the use of the harder bronze adzes allows the volunteers working on the boat to get experience of working with an unusual tool and also the mind set of working with much more delicate tools than modern steel tools.

Using a long handled bronze adze to flatten the bottom of the boat.

By the end of the day, as well as some very hot and bothered volunteers, the majority of the bark had been removed and the flattening of the boats bottom was well under way. Tomorrow sees a day of adzing in the sunshine to get the bottom fully flat.