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Behold, the first thing I have ever shaped - The Stem! A piece of Western Red Cedar, that is fatter at the top and thinner at the bottom. This, apparently, goes at the pointy end of the boat. Won't epoxy it yet, as I'm sure it may need fine adjustments in the dry fit process, but it looks pretty damn close to spec to me. Now, just have to put it somewhere safe so I don't use it as a paint stirrer or something ..:-)
Note1: Thanks go to Richard McDonald, who showed me how to hone and set my new Stanley No 4 plane, and actually tried it out on test pieces in the workshop at St Ives, Murdoch WA. They have a bench saw too, so they haven't seen the last of me.
Note: This is the basic procedure I used, following Michael Storer's advice - thanks Mik!
It is basically a piece of wood with a triangular cross section. The Triangle is a bit wider at the top than the bottom.
The drawing in the plan shows the stem drawn from the side - that's the one with the 45mm dimension. The two triangles show the shape at the top and the bottom.
If you have a piece of wood the right dimensions then,
Draw a line down the middle of one of the narrow faces. That will be the front apex of the stem.
On the opposite narrow face draw another centreline. This is the face opposite the apex v- the rear face.
Mark one end with "bottom" so you don't get it confused.
The rear face will finish 36mm wide at the top and 22mm wide at the bottom. Join these measurements with straight lines.
Plane down to the shape.
Hi John, Bruce (woodeneye) here. Mick calls the stem the most complex piece in the build, so it's good for the confidence levels to get that bit done! I made my stem last w/e from Paulownia. It's so light and soft that I couldn't put in any kind of jaws to hold it for planing, so I held it to the sawhorse with long panel pins. This worked pretty well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we're both at the pre-hull stage so I'll pop by here and check your progress from time to time :)