A Lot of Savoir-Faire

Shipbuilding requires workmanship of many techniques, presented by the craftsman Jean-François Lachance.

Jean-François Lachance, grandson of François-Xavier Lachance, is in the rowboat shop of the Parc maritime de Saint-Laurent. He speaks to an interviewer on the right side of the camera.

[Jean-François Lachance] As a craftsman, when I look at his work, it’s certain that what impresses me most is the sum of know-how it takes to build a boat. Because building a boat is not just a carpenter job. There is a part of the work  done by a draftsman,

Moving image from left to right showing the sketch of a yacht seen in profile, followed by a sketch of the same boat seen from above.

[J.-F. L.] the need to understand plans, or make a half-hull …

Back on Jean-François Lachance in the rowboat shop.

[J.-F. L.] Grandpa often worked from a half-hull that enabled him to develop plans later,

Video clip showing Jean-François’s hands holding a wooden half-hull, followed by a close-up of the half-hull.

[J.-F. L.] to make his sketches. After that, all the work of shaping the parts of the boat, the boat’s frame …

Back on Jean-François Lachance in the rowboat shop.

[J.-F. L.] There is a sum of knowledge that we cannot imagine and a sum of crafts too, because there is the craft of wood, the craft of blacksmith, because there are many pieces that were forged. Grandpa owned a small forge

Video sequence showing the top of a workbench where the half-hull, a plane and a piece of metal on which is engraved “F.X. Lachance” are placed.

[J.-F. L.] where he himself made many of his forgings. There were canvases, sails, ropes,

Video sequence showing a close-up nautical cable.

[J.-F. L.] splices, making the paddles …

Back on Jean-François Lachance in the rowboat shop.

[J.-F. L.] It includes so much different knowledge and know-how that you wonder how a man who lived on an island, in a single family, could accumulate it. It’s quite impressive because from the very beginning of his career, we note that he knows a lot of things.

Black and white photograph of François-Xavier Lachance, aged, sitting outside on a pile of materials, holding a wooden molding.

[J.-F. L.] He knows a lot about mechanics, he obviously knows about carpentry, that’s his first talent, but otherwise he really has a lot of … a range of knowledge and know-how

Back on Jean-François Lachance in the rowboat shop.

[J.-F. L.] which is very very wide and me as a craftsman, that’s what impresses me the most,

Video sequence showing the interior of the boat from right to left, where Jean-François, from behind, observes a rowboat.

[J.-F. L.] to see how he managed to excel in all these savoir-faire.