The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Roger, you didn't indicate if you have cut the mortice to fit the last 10 inches of the outer stem to the inner stem? A little spring open is typical and it will pull down OK. When you epoxy on the outer stem, it's a good idea to first paint on un-thickened epoxy on all mating wood parts to soak in ...

Hmmm, Robbie, you did laminate the inside and outside stems at the same time over the stem mold (with a separator in between the inside and outside stems)? Some builders have tried to mold an outside stem over the mold without the inside stem in place. The curve of the outside stem will not be corre...

Robbie, sorry to hear that you're lamenting your laminations.
For future reference, you're probably using 3 - 1/4" strips to make a 3/4" stem. I like to use 5 - .15" strips to make a 3/4" stem. It's a little more work to fabricate but easier to mold.
Ed...

Robbie, with regard to whether or not to scuff a pre-coat, you should consult your epoxy manufacuture for the maximum length of time epoxy can cure and still permit a chemical bond.
Ed...

Robbie, you're at the most exciting part of your venture. There are 2 camps on pre-coat; some do, some don't. I have done it both ways and think that the wet out is easier with a pre-coat done. I let the precoat sit 24 hours and then scuff with a Scotch Bright pad. As I precoat, I squeegee off the e...

Terry, raising the grain and then doing a light hand sand will help ease the application of the glass material as it's laid on dry. You must be sure that the wood surface is dry before proceeding with epoxy! With regard to using solvents to clean up epoxy: there is a health hazard using solvents and...

Howard, sorry to hear about your leg. I know from whence you speak. If you use a sanding/shaping strip http://michneboat.com/Shaping%20the%20Stems.htm you can get an idea how the transistion goes by placing the sanding strip from mold 6 (?) to the innerstem along the line of the last strip in place....

With 5/16" d cove + bead, cutting the strips to .270" allows for a .010" edge. The strip will take a lot more abuse during the build and less slivers in the fingers too. There is a discussion in a thread on the forum about these cutters. http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/orderstatus/html...

Ed, it's good that you are getting your stripping back in step. Offsets can occur early in laying on strips as they rise on the vertical part of the stems. The left-right pair of strips can get offset if not pulled down tight in the haste to get them clamped or stapled to the stem or perhaps caused ...

Very nice job Brad!
With regards to the Deer scale: For Deer we always take the high reading; For canoes we take the low reading

Enjoy the canoe!
Ed...

Really good method and advice here:
http://www.greenval.com/FAQvarnishing.html
Ed...

Well Macca, you will get the gamut of ideas on this question. This is one way: http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/ealger/Scuppers/ In this series, I used a straight bit but a 1/2" carbide spiral would be better. I suggest doing the end tapers first as cutting the scuppers leaves the inwale ...

I measured my Bear Mountain Prospector 16' plans and station 6 is 23" exactly. The stem mold height is 22 3/8" at the edge. However, I moved the edge forward 1/2" to allow for the thickness of station 6 as my reference edge is toward the inside of the hull. This put the stem mold at 2...

[img][img]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/ ... C_1804.jpg[/img][/img]
My Model M-1 Strop

Well Roger, you're going to get the whole spectrum of sharpening mehods from the readers. I've have most all the items you mention. After 55 years I've come down to this plate: W250EFNB, 10" x 4" http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/duosharp.htm If you add a King S-1 6000 grit gold stone plus ...