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The outer stem is made from 4 pieces of 3/16" thick x 3/4" wide Ipe (pronounced 'ee-pay', also known as Brazillian Walnut). It was laminated together over the inner stem form before stripping began. Here I'm bonding it to the end with thickened epoxy while holding it down with a cargo strap & C-clamp. |
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Same on the other end... |
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The blue masking tape is removed when the epoxy is partially cured but still rubbery. This leaves the hull strips clean with no hardened chunks of epoxy to carve off later. |
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Left overnight, the clamps are removed and its ready for shaping. |
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The stem is brought to rough shape with a block plane then smoothed with a 6" disk sander & 36 grit paper. |
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Blending the stem into the strips and fine tuning the profile. |
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End view of the shaped stem blending smoothly into the lines of the hull. |
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Keep it straight! Now I'm ready to plane & sand the hull strips down to the finished countour. Next step...Fairing the outer hull. |
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