One of the most conspicuous achievements in the field of revival of ancient crafting traditions, is the skill of hollowing out canoes from a single trunk of aspen or linden tree.

In Estonia, the use of dugouts (haabjas in Estonian, from haab 'aspen') continued up until modern times in areas with regularly flooding rivers or deltas with large reed-beds. In Soomaa (lit. 'Land of Mires') in the south-west, local enthusiasts have succeeded in tracking down a couple of old mastercrafters and established dugoutcarving summer camps where young townspeople can re-establish contact with the millennia-old tradition of their ancestors. To take your mates or sweetheart on a ride in a canoe carved out of a tree trunk by your own hands, must more than compensate for several weeks of hard labour.