Replacing Entire Stem- B.N. Morris/Kennebec

[IthacaBill]

Hello out there!
I recently aquired my second turn of the century Kennebec canoe that has a hull crafted by B.N. Morris. It has an upswept stem which is splayed at the floor (about 3" at base, 3/4" at stem tip.) I have seen alot of discussions on this forum about scarfing/splicing stem tips, but I need to replace the entire stem. I traced the outline of the curve of the stem from base to a few inches beyond the tip (onto some cardboard.) When I pulled the tacks from the ends of the planking, it just lifted right out-very rotten. I figure I'll need to bend a piece of ash in order to do this, then taper on the outer edge and bevel the other end to fit over the ribs. I've never steam bent wood or replaced an entire stem. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Martin Dumas]

For the steam-bending aspect, you may wish to check out Rollin Thurlow's Steambending for Woodworkers video. It has lots of useful and practical information.

Is/was your original stem ash or cedar? I thought Morris stems were cedar.

Martin

 

[IthacaBill]

Stems

I thought about getting that video, but I don't even own a VCR anymore! Perhaps I'll hit a garage sale this weekend. As for the wood of the stems- I'm not sure how to tell what that rotten wood is. I assumed it would be a hardwood, but it could be spruce. How can you tell?

 

[Dan Miller]

Wood identification comes with experience. There are books on the subject, but they don't really help with weathered and rotten samples. Morris did use northern white cedar for stems, and I've never seen one with anything else. That should be good news, as northern white cedar is easy to shape and bend...

 

[Rollin Thurlow]

The Stem for the Morris or the Kennebec Morris would be White Cedar. It would be 7/8" thick and three inches wide. Its difficult to bend because it is so large compared to the much smaller ribs. It takes a lot of force to bend this size wood. One person can do it but you'll wish you had two, or three! You will want to use some lesser quality, similar size wood to pratice the bending operation before you do it for real. This way you'll find out if your jig is set up right, if your camps are correct and if your working fast enough to get it bent before it cools.
Remeber that your jig wants to be to the INSIDE shape of the stem and not the outside curve of the stem. It makes a world of difference when you go to fit the stem!
This is a fussy operation. You can even use one of the pratice stems to shape and fit to the ribs, even if it broke in the pratice bending. You will learn a lot while trying to get the pratice one to fit and it will save you from making mistakes on the good stem.
Rollin