I knew two guys that built a birch bark canoe with only the book THE BARK AND SKIN BOATS OF NORTH AMERICA as a guide. I couldn’t find my copy this morning, I would guess there are plenty of them in used book stores.
Minnesota Public Television has a documentary about some white guy teaching some Native Americans how to build a birchbark canoe in the traditional way, which is pretty comprehensive.
Tremendous amount of labor collecting the natural materials. Finding the right birch tree is also not the most easiest tree, in the forest to locate.
In the early seventies, while working for the US Forest Service, I took a bunch of YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS kids and my future wife to visit with Bill Hafeman of rural Big Fork, Minnesota. Mr. Hafeman was building a big fur trade canoe for the Minnesota Historical Society. Very educational visit with a great guy. There is a video on the internet about him and his canoe building called THE BIRCH CANOE BUILDER. I would link to it if I could, however technical knowledge has passed me by (that, and I have refused to keep up with). I suspect google is your friend.
David Gidmark wrote some good books about Algonquin crafts, birch bark canoes being one of them.