More Rear Stem

I've been looking around for some sloow setting epoxy to glue the rear stem. Most of the hardware stores sell a quick setting 5 minute version. Not exactly the time frame I'm looking for. After some searching I find a 4 hour set time - might be enough.

The back of the canoe is at the back of the shop-age (shop/garage) so I clear all the accumulated stuff off the strong back and with some help from Laurie we muscle it out, spin it around and muscle it back in. I clean up the lleading edge of the canoe as much as possible to get a good fit with the stem. It's not exact but it will do. I dry fit with some straps, mix up the epoxy and glue away. I'll let it set for a few days and see how it holds.

Rear Stem

I've been soaking the piece for the rear stem for about a week now. I've had it wrapped up in a wet towel. Bending the stem around the form is always a bit crazy - I've done a few of them. So without any other excuses (I got the squirrels out of the attic, fixed the flat on the Echo, made a storage box for the chainsaw, opened a discount brokerage account and reinvested my RSPs, sorted my sock drawer (I'm definitely stalling now)), I gather my materials and begin in earnest.

I get the hot-plate, kettle and PVC pipe set up. The piece of ash for the stem goes in the pipe for a 45 minute steam bath. While waiting I get the clamps preset and ready. The first attempt goes south in a hurry. I can't get the first clamp on fast enough and the ash cools down quickly. Back in the steamer for 20 minutes. Time enough to learn a Steve Earle song on the uke. 

Out of the steamer and onto the form - this time things go a little smoother. At the apex of the curve, the wood starts to split . Fortunately, it's in a spot where a clamp goes, so I can stop the split from getting too big. Once it's cooled down I'll glue the split together. There are a couple of places where the wood isn't tight to the form and no clamp holes to tighten it, so I use some straps with ratchets to cinch it down. Time to sit back, take a few pics and let things cool.

Spring is here finally

Last fall I attempted to glue the front outside stem to the canoe. The glue didn't hold and the cold weather made me decide to wait until spring to try again. So with some warm weather and sunshine it was time to get back to it.

I pulled off the half glued stem, cleaned up the glue surfaces and tried again. I used an entire tube of slow setting epoxy (4 hour set time). There were some existing screw holes from previous stem attempts. I would use a few of these, but mostly relied on straps to hold the stem in place while the glue dried. The stem had straightened a bit over winter, so i needed to get enough pressure to bend the stem to the form of the canoe without bleeding the glue joint.

While waiting for the joint to dry, I milled another piece of ash for the rear stem. Previously I had been looking for a piece of wood with straight grain throughout. After bending the last stem, I realized I only needed straight grain in the section that gets bent. I cut some 5/4 ash down to 3/4 and used a 1/2" round over router bit to round the edges.

first peek

While trying to figure out the stem problem, I decide to take the canoe off the form. I can try to bend the stems directly on the form instead of bending them over the canoe. This is an exciting step since the only view I've had of the inside of the canoe is from underneath. I've waxed the form at each station, so I hope the canoe won't be glued to the form. I am able to get the shell unstuck except at the front end. So I unscrew the last 3 stations from the strong back and it seems ready to lift. I know the shell will be weak so with Laurie's help I lift off the shell and flip it over on the ground beside the form.

At first glance it looks ugly, but underneath the dried glue, sawdust and rough strips there is some beauty. The stripping pattern looks great, the joint from the last strip will need some work - I guess I didn't persuade it enough. I sand some of the bottom, but realize that the sanding effort for the inside will be much greater than the outside.

stems

Before taking the canoe off the form, I need to make the outside stems. Normally this would be done before stripping, at the same time as the inside stems. I soak and steam some 3/4 x 1/4 ash pieces and bend those around the end of the canoe over the inside stems and strips. I could glue the pieces together and screw and glue them to the canoe at the same time, but I want to be able to cut a joint on the laminated stem piece after it has dried. This joint will over lap with the keel. So I screw the first piece of ash to the canoe and then glue the next one to that and repeat with the third allowing them to dry in between.

The result looks ugly with some spaces between the laminates. I can't get enough pressure over the entire surface of the bend to get a good seal between the glued pieces of wood. I will try to use a solid piece next, but will need to build a form to bend the wood using clamps and straps to hold it instead of screws.

get out the 40

With the stripping done, it's time to fare the hull and start sanding. I used a small hand plane to smooth down the edges - very zen-like process with aromatic cedar shavings flying. It gets a bit touchy when I hit two strips that have opposite grain. In a few places, especially with the eastern white, the wood gets gouged.

I start sanding with a orbital palm sander that' noisy and has no dust bag. Eventually the noise gets louder and less orbital until the sanding pad flies off the end of the sander. After a few unsuccessful attempts at fixing it, I buy a new bigger, quieter sander with a dustbag and a good dust mask. The CanoeCraft book recommends using an 80 grit for rough sanding the hull. I read somewhere that a 50 or 60 grit is okay. It's slow going in some areas, so I try a 40 grit which leaves the hull kinda rough but goes more quickly. I can pass over again later with a 120 and wet/dry.

2nd half

Time to fill in the rest of the strips. I'm trying to keep some semblance of symmetry, but the differences in strip widths make it a bit challenging. The western red is quite dry and brittle on the cove milled edges. I put a lot of faith in the ability to fill spaces with wood filler. The last 3 strips take me 2 weeks to finish. The pattern ended with a thin oval of white inside the red. The strips are not symmetric from front to back since the canoe is not. I also need to trim some of the cove edge on the last piece so I can slip the last piece in and I need to deal with the fact that the centre line edge is not exactly straight (I can't get the wood to squint). I'm planning on adding a keel so the centre line on the outside is not important. The important joint is on the inside that I won't have a good look at until I get the canoe off the form.

So after lot's of moaning and fitting it's time to glue up and go for it. The last piece doesn't exactly slip in with the added glue- I need to get out the persuader for a good fit.