curved stem

[oldsparkey]

I believe that all of us appreciate the tutorial that seedtick posted , it is some wonderful information and enlightens everyone on how to create the curved stem pieces. I know I learned a lot from it.

To quote seedtick........

reckon you're right about stitch and glue not needing stems, never built a stitch and glue

Not to be argumentative or as an excuse , only as an explanation.
I posted my response so he would have an idea about how the stitch and glue was done since he has never made one , sharing information. Or you might call it sharing an experience that I know about. There was no intent to take away or distract from his post , it was in the follow up questions , comments and answers area after he posted his information.

 

[mosportsmen]

Man KJ, even I got a jig saw, belt sander, circular saw, and a router.......I even picked up a drill press (my only bench/free standing power tool) at a garage sale for $2 last summer, it aint much but it does the trick, think I got my money out of it.

Guess I should count my blessings.

If I could ever get tools and a temp controlled work space and retire, I think I will make boats till the money runs out.

Tom

 

[beekeeper]

flip the stem on its backside and draw a line down the center

I did my first ones like that because that is how you and Keith showed me. When I made the ones for my pirogue I made them to fit to the sides (not stand proud).

To do that I use a piece of wood 3 &3/8" wide and 2 & 3/8" high.
I mark two lines 3/16" each side of the center line shown in your picture and cut to those lines. That leaves a 3/8" face on the stem instead of being pointed. The sides of the boat are planed flush with this, leaving a flat area to attach the batter board. The flat on the front of the stem helps me face the sides aligned properly and flush (not rounded over).

Thanks for posting this and all the sharing you guys do.
beekeeper

 

[Oyster]

Seedtick just a learner. Thats why he doesn't cut the back side out. :lol: :lol: :lol: XXXOOO
But anyway cutting the back side out actually weakens the piece. While it may not make much of a difference in small craft cross grain or exposed grain overtime has a tendancy to split. When using unstable woods such as pine or new growth cypress or even the cedars, looking at the grain orientation on the stem piece, the runout in a narrow and short piece lends you to the thread of the wood drying out further. Think of the piece after you cut the curve on the back parrallel to the front side and the runout will become apparrent middle of the piece. Think about the end grain in plywood too thats in the inner cores and dampness that can enter.

For better use of long and narrow wood and in jobs that require greater curves, this is a style scarf that works well. There are several varieties of them but hopefully you get the picture. This keeps the runout of all grains to a minimum and splitting to a minimum too down the road.

Of course this is where we also use lamination of multiple layers of thin woods laid together and glued with thickened epoxy.

 

[seedtick]

good comments BK and Oyster

I also like the thicker pieces of wood but didn't want to cut up a 3" X 4" chunk of good cypress just for a how to

I didn't discuss grain orientation - my bad - but it is critical particularly in larger boats and boats where there is a lot of stress on the stem (like a plank boat). The stem on the 23' Lafitte skiff we built several years ago started out as a 6" X 6".

 

[Oyster]

If you look closely you can see that we also throughbolt the joints and then in the forefoot[the most extreme turn of the stems] we back up that section in really large boats with additional pieces. You can do this with a really wide piece and make the joints into the wider pieces. Hope this helps and hopefully this does not hyjack the thread too much.