The Backbone: Stem, Rabbet, and Frame Sockets

The stem I'd like to read from my Ode to the Black Locust, but fortunately it's still all in the head, and hazy at that. The subject is the Stem. Out front every time; first to take the brunt, whatever that is; symbol of Man's conquest of the unknown; stark in the cresting seas, the boiling sun, the creaking frosts of high latitudes. And not always up to facing these responsibilities, either, unless it's a pretty good piece to start with, and capped at the top to keep fresh water out of the end grain. So, for the stem, you want the best cut out of the best tree that ever grew. This is where the old pro has the advantage over you. For years, he's been pushing choice bits of timber under the shop-crooked, curved, too rough-looking to suit the visiting N.A.s-waiting for that slack spell when he'll build one for himself, or for a friend who's going winter fishing. He might even have a piece of black locust, grown to the sweep, clear of the heart, and seasoned all the way through. A piece of really good, genuine white oak, grown and seasoned as above, is not to be sneered at. Dense hard pine would do, but you'd likely have to accept straight grain. Just don't give up the search too easily. And if all else fails, you can cold laminate the whole length, on a form, with no scarf, out of ¼-inch hard mahogany-and with plenty of through-rivets to quiet my doubts about the glue. We'll consider this pos­sibility later. Let's assume that you plan to make the stem in two pieces, as shown in the present plans. It's permissible to shift the location of the scarf up or down, to suit your timber. Don't shorten the scarf, or I'll be disappointed. Don't put jogs, hooks, or keys in it. Keep the lower end of the scarf below the waterline. Make the whole assembly of three pieces, as shown in Figure 5-la, if necessary. Leave plenty of wood on top of the keel, far aft enough to take that forward­most ballast bolt with plenty to spare. You can cut all these parts, even some portions of the inside curves, just as you cut the keel and the sternpost; although with these lighter-weight and easier-to-carry timbers, a big handsaw does it with less fuss. Dress off the matching faces of the scarfs with great care, square to the sides and right to the template outlines, light-tight when you put them together. Use a rabbet plane across the grain in the corners, and a smoothing plane and a foreplane in the open stretches. Transfer waterlines, sheerline, and station lines to all four faces of each piece they cross; prick in the rabbet line (but do not mark it yet) on both sides, as you did on the stern post. Lay them out on the full-sized lofting, and notice what happens to the height of the sheer when you change the angle of that scarf at the fore end of the keel. Joining it all together My first move, at this point, is to set the wood keel level, on timbers, and fit the forefoot (lower part of the stem) to it. Use a tackle from overhead, unless you have a strong and patient helper to hold it while you scramble for clamps. You were probably timid in cutting the end of the keel and the matching jog in the forefoot, so you'll probably need to make saw cuts up the joint-several of them-before the reference lines (marked on each piece at station 3) match up. Set your clamps so that they tend to pull the two pieces together lengthwise, tightening the scarf as you tighten them. As