Carving the Redbird Stem

[shawnkielty]

RedbirdStem_smll.jpg

[Patricks Dad]

I suggest you carve a section at a time and start at the sheerline (rather than the end you have started on. Carve enough of the stem to allow you to apply the first few strips. Carve a bit ahead of your stripping process. This way you will be more confident that you have the bevel just right.

A trick for getting the bevel perfect for any given strip is to take a piece of stripping material about 3' long and apply an 6" section of sand paper at one end (self-adhesive sand paper cut into strips as wide as your strip. Lay the stick across the stem and across the next form (or 2). Put some pressure against the stick so the sand paper presses against the stem. Shift the stick back and forth to shape the stem. Hold the stick parallel to the strips.

You can use a spokeshave or a plane to get it close and then fine tune with the stick.


I learned this technique from John Michne. It's called a Michne stick.

Works great and you are assured that your rolling bevel is perfect.

[shawnkielty]

I am using a stick, indeed. I am trying to plane with the sole of the plane parallel to the direction of the stick, which seemed to have worked at the other stem. The idea of sanding with the stick never occurred to me. This will be very useful.

Despite having read it in Ted's book and hearing you repeat it here, I fail to understand the advantage of starting at the sheer line rather than the keel. The profile of the stem is very easy to understand at the station 7, which is why I started there. I suppose that doing it concurrently with stripping would provide a solid verification that the angles are correct, which is a good point on your part. I will find out when I start stripping.

I do find that the sharper curve is harder to cut with a plane and wish I had a spokeshave ...

[shawnkielty]

RB_Inner_stem_sml.jpg

I'll sand to fit as I strip it.