Piragis Northwoods Company
105 North Central Avenue
Ely, Minnesota 55731
1-800-223-6565
www.piragis.com
October 19, 2009
Your Friends in the Great Northwoods

News from Piragis Northwoods Company and the BoundaryWatersCatalog.com:

"Dear Drew and all the folks at Piragis,

As usual your service was outstanding. Special thanks to the young guy in the outfitting area who went the extra mile to find a couple of boxes for me to ship all my gear home from Ely. I have been a loyal customer for at least 25 years now and always look forward to arriving at your doorstep prior to a trip.

Cheers and hope to see you all again next year.
Scott Bogen




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Get your 2009 Rental Canoes and Kayaks now.

Our Rental Fleet is Moving FAST

Click here to see the latest up-to-date list of discounted Canoes and Kayaks



Canoe Trip Outfitting Clients send in pictures:
Thanks for the wonderful pictures you've sent our way. We always enjoy showing everyone what the Boundary Waters looks like from the lenses of different paddlers.


Leroy DePas shot these on a trip near Little Gabro Lake

Jim Poyzer shot this on a day trip to Hegman Lake

Dave Cox got these while on a trip to Gull Lake.








Thank you to all who sent in photos. We're saving some more for future issues. Send us your favorite canoeing pictures from this Summer or Fall. Email them off and we'll feature them in one of our next newsletters.

E-mail us your trip pictures


Heating with wood this winter? Going fall and winter camping? Gransfors Bruks Axes give you an edge in the woods and at home.

These are the finest axes available in the world today! Each axe is hand- forged by a professional smith in Sweden. The century old family owned business has only 23 employees and you’ll find a smith’s initials on the head of each finished axe. Forged from a special Swedish axe steel, the blades are tempered and annealed to the correct toughness. The handles are made of first quality hickory, and the axeheads are oiled and protected by a grain-leather sheath. Each axe comes with a booklet that describes maintenance and use in detail, along with photos of the craftsman at work. Add $5.00 for oversized item shipping charges.

Axe Sharpening Stone Get your axe back to its original sharpness with this 2-1/4" round stone. It is coarse on one side and fine on the other. The bottom of the case can be left on the stone for a secure fit and easy grip surface. K3321 $41.00
Forged Steel Splitting Wedge Slightly twisted for maximum splitting. The poll has ground edges. 1 3/4” face, 4 lbs. K3320 $70.00
Splitting Maul For splitting large rounds. Hammer-poll for pounding on a wedge. 2 1/2” face, 5 1/2 lb. head, 31” handle with circular grip grooves and steel collar. K3311 $160.00
Scandinavian Forest Axe For limbing felled trees in the traditional way. Forged to a thin, curved bit and sharpened to be suitable for cutting branches in fresh resinous spruce or pine. 3 1/2” face, 2 lb. head, 25” handle. K3312 $119.00
Large Splitting Axe For splitting large rounds and powering through wood. Not designed for wedge pounding. 3” face, 3 1/2 lb. head, 27” handle with circular grooves at grip and a steel collar. K3313 $145.00
Wildlife Hatchet Hatchet sized for camping. Good size for youth. 3” face, 1 lb. head, 14” handle. K3315 $103.00
Small Forest Axe Practical camping axe for small fire-wood. 3 1/4” face, 1 1/2 lb. head, 19” handle. K3316 $109.00
Swedish Carving Axe Chopping axe for wood carving and architectural work. 4 1/3” face, 2 lb. head, 14” handle. K3317 $164.00
Hunter’s Axe With a rounded, burnished flay poll for skinning. Circular grooves on handle for improved grip. 3 1/4” face, 1 1/2 lb. head, 19” handle. K3318 $157.00
Carpenter’s Axe Functions like a good heavy knife for dry wood. Poll is ground to work as a hammer. 3 1/2” face, 1 1/2 lb. head, 18” handle. K3319 $113.00

Two great source books for the outdoors.

Backyard Lumberjack By Frank and Stephen Philbrick. This is the ultimate guide to felling, bucking, splitting and stacking. The Philbricks, enthusiastic and skilled lumberjacks, explain what it takes to bring a tree from forest to fireplace. Part hard work, part pure chain saw satisfaction, this book is your complete guide to bringing in the wood. PB. 147 pgs. $18.95

The AX Book By D. Cook. The Ax is an indispensable tool for every woodsman. Even those who use chainsaws and other power equipment need to be familiar with the hand tools of their craft. In many situations, nothing will do but an ax. This book has proven to be an ideal resource for anyone who wishes to fell trees and take lumber or firewood from the forest. The Ax Book tells you how to use an ax efficiently for every task it can perform, especially in connection with cutting firewood: felling trees, trimming them, sectioning them and spliting them. The author isn't afraid to compare the ax with the chainsaw in this work, and he explains the use of the latter as well. The book is full of illustrations. K4612 $22.50



FALL STORAGE IDEAS for Canoes and Kayaks
We thought we'd send you a quick reminder to take care of your canoes and kayaks as the season changes. 303 Protectant is the best stuff we've found to protect composite canoes and kayaks from damaging UV rays. It can literally add years of life to your royalex hull. For wood trim we always use Watco Oil. It goes on easily with and old rag and protects wood while allowing it to breathe. Gel-Gloss does wonders for kevlar and fiberglass hulls. It really brings back the luster.

303 Protectant, Watco, Gel-Gloss

303
http://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/browse.cfm/4,1950.htm
Watco
http://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/browse.cfm/4,1943.htm
Gel-Gloss
http://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/browse.cfm/4,131.htm

We've highlighted our excellent Storage Options below as well as our Best-Selling Skid Plates. This is the time of year to apply skid plates to your bow and stern if they are worn from a year's use. Then you'll be ready for more paddling next year. The kits take about an hour to apply.

For those of you who are looking forward to more months of paddling, we're envious of you, soon we'll be walking on our lakes. We're not giving up on Fall yet, though, a few folks are still renting canoes and kayaks and heading out into the Boundary Waters.

Get your boats ready for next summer. Order online or call us at 1-800-223-6565 to place an order. We'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about our time-tested products!



Vintage Birchbark Canoe for Sale

This canoe was handmade 80 years ago by a Native American - a man by the name of Pete Dube of Maniwaki, Quebec. Pete Dube is illustrated on Page 10 of David Gidmark's book, BUILDING A BIRCHBARK CANOE: THE ALGONQUIN WABANAKI TCIMAN (Firefly Books Ltd., 2002). This is a classic high-ended wabanki canoe and was handmade in the finest traditions of the early American Indians. The canoe is in beautiful original condition. The canoe is useable as is, but needs to be resealed with pine pitch to prevent leaks that are normal for a canoe of this vintage.

The canoe features several original bark etchings (a beaver and an otter), a symbolic red ochre pattern along the gunwales and a small painting of a whitetail deer.

The canoe would make a wonderful conversation piece for someone's Ely cabin or residence.

$12,000
Contact steve@piragis.com


Winter Camping Symposium this coming weekend.

The eleventh annual Winter Camping Symposium will be held the weekend of October 23-25th. Traditionally located in Ely or central Wisconsin, this year the event is taking place just 21 miles west of Minneapolis at the historic YMCA Camp Ihduhapi.

Participants are welcome to stop for a few hours and attend a couple presentations or camp the entire weekend. Winter camping is growing in popularity and the symposium is designed for beginning winter campers to learn the basics and for old sourdoughs to hone their skills and share their winter camping wisdom. Sessions will include warm tent and cold tent camping, solo winter travel in the BWCA, snowshoeing, skiing, dog trips, toboggan pulling, safety, and winter campcraft. Participants may also sign up for special workshops where they can actually build a sled or practice their outdoor culinary skills.

Midwest Mountaineering, Empire Canvas, Snowtrekker Tents, Ski Pulk, and other outfitters will be on hand to demonstrate the latest in traditional and high-tech winter camping gear. There will also be a swap meet with bargains on used winter camping equipment and tents.

Friday and Saturday night trip narratives and films will be presented inside the spacious and modern Camp Ihduhapi Welcome Center. The presentation on Saturday evening will feature Amy Voytilla and Dave Freeman covering wilderness travels and the outdoor classroom.

Admission to the symposium is $10 adults, $25/family and $5 for students. Campsites are available for $10 for week-end. There are heated bathhouses nearby with running water. Meals can be purchased at the camp dining hall. 2 bunkhouses are also available for overnight accommodations at a cost of $10/ person for the week-end. There are great campsites tucked away in the woods or close-by the bathhouse and welcome center.

Join us for a few hours or a couple days and learn the joys of camping during the quiet season. Come and share your adventures with the rest of us that are too crazy to let blizzards and frigid cold snaps stop us from pitching our tents and traveling over frozen lakes and between snow covered trees.

To register and for more information contact rpula@powerelectric.com.

The snow is coming, sooner, rather than later, remember to check out our winter outfitting gear rentals and plan your winter camping trip in the Boundary Waters today:


http://www.piragis.com/outfitting/winteroutfitting.html

Thanks to our Newsletter Sponsors Below!