The key to George Klassen91裸聊视频檚 pandemic project was to create something new and beautiful from unwanted upright pianos.

The Surrey resident made a music-themed canoe from the wood of instruments that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage.

Three old pianos were recycled to create Middle Sea over the past 15 months, in the garage of Klassen91裸聊视频檚 Fleetwood-area home.

It might be the only canoe of its kind in the world.

91裸聊视频淚 haven91裸聊视频檛 come across anything like this,91裸聊视频� Klassen noted. 91裸聊视频淎s far as I know, this is the only one on the globe made of pianos, but I might be wrong.91裸聊视频�

A longtime piano tuner, he found inspiration in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, in spring 2020.

91裸聊视频淣one of us knew what to do with our time, right?91裸聊视频� Klassen said. 91裸聊视频淚t all felt kind of surreal and it was a bit of a wake-up call for me. I was 64 or 65 years old at the time, and I thought, 91裸聊视频楽omeday I91裸聊视频檓 going to have more time, you know, to do something. So it91裸聊视频檇 be nice to experiment.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�

(Story continues below)

More photos of "Middle Sea," the cleverly named canoe, made of old piano wood by Surrey's George Klassen as a pandemic project.
It sure is a beauty!
STORY:

91裸聊视频� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)

Browsing around Facebook Marketplace, he clicked on photos of cedar-strip canoes for sale, and was reminded of a fibreglass model he built back in high school, in Killarney, Man.

91裸聊视频淚 know that every day, there are these old, brown upright pianos that are just going to the dump, one after the other 91裸聊视频� you can91裸聊视频檛 even give them away,91裸聊视频� Klassen said.

91裸聊视频淚 thought, 91裸聊视频業 wonder if somebody milled some of these old pianos into strips and turned them into a canoe.91裸聊视频� That91裸聊视频檚 what started the whole process.91裸聊视频�

So he collected some old pianos and began making a canoe, which turned out to be a work of art.

Using a tablesaw and thickness planer, he discovered plenty of solid oak in those old pianos.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 really beautiful wood,91裸聊视频� Klassen noted, 91裸聊视频渂ut the unconventional part of it is, of course cedar-strip canoes are made of cedar, a softer and lighter wood. So people ask me how heavy mine is, but it turns out the canoe weighs about 60 pounds, not bad 91裸聊视频� about 10 pounds heavier than a cedar-strip one.91裸聊视频�

Klassen is justifiably proud of his canoe91裸聊视频檚 details.

91裸聊视频淭he edge of the canoe, the outer , is made of soundboard ribs from a piano, finger-jointed together to make a continuous strip on the outside,91裸聊视频� he explained.

91裸聊视频淚n the pictures, you91裸聊视频檒l see slits on the side. The solid parts of that gunwale are actual key sharps, the black keys on the piano. I shaved them down and made them all uniform. There91裸聊视频檚 three key tops. I inlayed those on either end, and those are actual ivory piano keys.

91裸聊视频淭he handle to carry the canoe, on each end, those are the handles that were on the back of the pianos, two of them,91裸聊视频� Klassen added.

91裸聊视频淎nd the yoke in the middle, the piece used to carry the canoe, it91裸聊视频檚 a back post from a piano, shaved down and formed into a yoke.91裸聊视频�

Joan Clark, co-owner of , on King George Boulevard in Surrey, first alerted the Now-Leader about Klassen91裸聊视频檚 canoe project.

91裸聊视频淗e tunes the pianos here,91裸聊视频� Clark explained. 91裸聊视频�(Klassen) hated seeing these old pianos going to the dump, and this is a pretty ingenious use of them. I just think it is incredible what he has done.91裸聊视频�

Clark said old upright pianos have become a huge problem.

91裸聊视频淲e get lots of calls, but we don91裸聊视频檛 take them in and you can91裸聊视频檛 sell them. People are going to smaller acoustic pianos, or digitals,91裸聊视频� Clark explained. 91裸聊视频淎 lot of them are beautiful pianos and functional, but people just don91裸聊视频檛 have room for them in their houses anymore, or their apartments.

91裸聊视频淲e tell people to put them on Craigslist for free, but they end up hiring people or just take them to the dump on their own. You can91裸聊视频檛 recycle them because they have a metal frame.91裸聊视频�

Klassen has been tuning pianos for close to 40 years, and business is still good for his .

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e got a lot of work, actually,91裸聊视频� he related. 91裸聊视频淚 do quite a few recording studios. My most active customer is downtown. I91裸聊视频檝e tuned that piano around 150 times now. It91裸聊视频檚 been played by a lot of people over the years.91裸聊视频�

Now that his canoe is fully varnished, Klassen plans to put it in the water soon.

91裸聊视频淚 just finished it on Sunday (Sept. 12),91裸聊视频� he noted. 91裸聊视频淚 could have made paddles, and someday I probably will, but I just want to get it into the water now, so I bought a couple of paddles from Canadian tire.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檇 like to make it a family affair,91裸聊视频� Klassen said of Middle Sea91裸聊视频檚 maiden voyage, to involve his wife, Cathy, adult children, their spouses and grandchildren. 91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檒l take it somewhere, maybe Alouette Lake or something, and see if it floats 91裸聊视频� in the next couple of weeks, I imagine.91裸聊视频�

Klassen added: 91裸聊视频淐athy deserves a medal for putting up with the dust and noise I made, and also for making some crucial design suggestions.91裸聊视频�

tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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