The stems form the bow and the stern of the Canoe. There is an inner stem that you never see again since it is covered with cedar strips and an outer stem that is the final finish of the bow and stern. These stems are made from ash ripped 1/4"x 3/4" so they will bend easier. Each inner and outer stem is 3 pieces or the equivalent to a 3/4"x 3/4" solid piece. The steamer I create was to fit the fryer/steam that I had. Made from a 9" cake pan, plywood and a piece of 2" PVC screwed and epoxied to it.
Now we're cooking. If you look close you can see the steam. It takes only about 15 minutes in here to get the wood fibers soft enough to bend around the stems. Once you pull them out - with gloves by the way- you have about 1 minute to get them clamped before they cool off.
Here they are clamped around the stem form. This step is done before the form is mounted on the strongback so you can let it fly at the ends. Once the stems are epoxyed the ends can be trimmed to size and the stem forms mounted on the strongback. ts a good thing Home Depot had a sale on the 6" squeese clamps or I would have been in trouble. As it was they worked great. You only need to clamp every other hole for this step.
The steamed stems are left to dry overnight on the forms and then once removed given some more air time to be completely dry. I hung them over our furnace where they got lots of warm air.
After about 24 hours or so the stems are epoxied together with thickened epoxy. It is important to keep the inner and outer stem from being glued together - thats what the blue painting tape is for.
I used every clamp I had for the final clamping to the stems. 22 in all and I'm afraid I'm going to need more in the future. ps. gift idea. The clamps are set alternately on the inside and outside to balance the pressure but pulled the stems very tight to the stem mold. I cleaned up the extra epoxy with a painting scraper and a rag with Laquer Thinner. Now they will sit for a day before being removed and shaped. The next step will be to mount the stem molds and the rest of the station molds
Now we're cooking. If you look close you can see the steam. It takes only about 15 minutes in here to get the wood fibers soft enough to bend around the stems. Once you pull them out - with gloves by the way- you have about 1 minute to get them clamped before they cool off.
Here they are clamped around the stem form. This step is done before the form is mounted on the strongback so you can let it fly at the ends. Once the stems are epoxyed the ends can be trimmed to size and the stem forms mounted on the strongback. ts a good thing Home Depot had a sale on the 6" squeese clamps or I would have been in trouble. As it was they worked great. You only need to clamp every other hole for this step.
The steamed stems are left to dry overnight on the forms and then once removed given some more air time to be completely dry. I hung them over our furnace where they got lots of warm air.
After about 24 hours or so the stems are epoxied together with thickened epoxy. It is important to keep the inner and outer stem from being glued together - thats what the blue painting tape is for.
I used every clamp I had for the final clamping to the stems. 22 in all and I'm afraid I'm going to need more in the future. ps. gift idea. The clamps are set alternately on the inside and outside to balance the pressure but pulled the stems very tight to the stem mold. I cleaned up the extra epoxy with a painting scraper and a rag with Laquer Thinner. Now they will sit for a day before being removed and shaped. The next step will be to mount the stem molds and the rest of the station molds
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