I am looking for a good picture that shows the first few strips and the rolling bevel on the leading edge of the stem forms. For me, pictures are worth a 1000 words.
Thanks

You'll likely need to zoom in on this.

Just be prepared to spend extra time making sure your strips don't slip out of place.
A 1/4" thick strip that is a 1/16"- 1/8", out of alignment will require more sanding to match. Especially on the inside ! A thinner hull is the result.

That is where the true beauty of bead and cove comes in . Less glue needed, less glue to scrape ! Fit and alignment to me is very important.

After My third canoe, of hand beveling, I switched to bead and cove, and have never looked back. Over 30 canoes later.

Jim

I believe the poster is referring to shaping the stem, not beveling strips.

Question. Are you building without an interior stem?

My Bad !

I believe he is also building Stemless, as he wants photos of beveled stem forms .

The best method I found, was to mount your stem forms and with a Fairing stick, or a piece of strip, lay against the first form and stem form leading edge. Just like you would lay a strip on the forms. This will give the angle you need to bevel the stem form.

Thanks for your replies. I see that I have 2 options. Bevel the leading edge of the stem mold like Jim has done, or do not bevel like Arcola. It looks like either way will work. But I will bevel the leading edge of the stem.

I am not going to use an internal stem (or external).

This will be my first canoe using the Minnesota method. I do not have the experience of using this method (or even seeing an active build). I have been an internal/external stem guy. Ted Moores book was my bible. However, I figured that I would step out of my box and try something new and that is the MN method.

As far as actually beveling the leading edge of the stems, I have my own method that I call "sand paper on a stick" It's slow, effective and produces a nice bevel. Pictures show my build of the Merlin having an internal stem.

If the plans for your stem forms are designed for separate stems, then stapling your strips directly to the square ends would be appropriate, as in the first set of pictures. If your plans are not designed for the stem pieces, you need to bevel the forms to a sharp point so that the strips come together at the point , as in Jim's photo. There should be no space between the front of the stem form and where your strips come together in this case.

To bevel, I draw a line down the center of the stem form. I do a rough bevel with a block plane, taking care to preserve that center line. Of course the bevel decreases as you go up. I use a fairing stick across the first few stations to define the rest of the bevel. It's ok to take a little too much off as long as you preserve the original line on the front of the stem form since it defines where the strips come together. You can build an area back up with masking tape if you feel the need.

I hope this helps a little. Mark

Joe

You will find the Minnesota method the best !
It is so much easier, less time consuming, as well as material saving.


Jim

Simply bevel the Stem form, the same as the Inner stem in your builds.
again a fairing strip will aid, especially in the amount of bevel.

Good Luck Joe !