Stem laminating gone bad..

[reeljob]

Some of you will probably get a kick out of this. I laminated the stem yesterday for my Simmons. As I was buttering up the pieces with epoxy, I thought, Hmm- I wonder if wax would prevent the stem from sticking to the form. Nope! Instead of using plastic, I rubbed the frame heavily with wax. I would advise anyone not to do this.
Today I took off the clamps and the mold and stem had become one. Two very dulled chisels and several cuts later, I managed to separate most of the plywood from the stem. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i254/reeljob/DSC00824.jpg
More work with a ryoba saw and a chisel left it reasonably free of plywood. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i254/reeljob/DSC00826.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i254/reeljob/DSC00833.jpg

Then on to a plane and it ended up looking pretty good.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i254/reeljob/DSC00832.jpg

[Dave Gray]

As you discovered, package tape is much easier to work with!

[pipefitter]

At least there is no doubts to as how well epoxy holds.Sorry to hear that all worked out like that. Is good that you were able to salvage it.

[willmarsh3]

I've used plastic garbage bags draped over the jig with good results. Also aluminum foil works. I've never used wax or wax paper because I could not be sure of getting all the wax residue off. Looks like yours turned out ok in the end though. Also for most of mine I did the layup and clamping outside when it was cold to delay the cure while I got it set just right. Then I brought it in to cure. Regardless I still had to dress it up a bit with a belt sander.

Good luck on your boat construction.

[Paul Girouard]

If you have a surface planer just run it thru , it will follow the curve quite easily with just a little guidance. Plastic , foil , heck even plain old brown building paper,/ red rosen paper to prevent a good bond to the form/ base can be easly cleaned off after.

Good job all in all. :)

[John A. Campbell]

I have been using Johnson's Paste Wax for many years to keep laminations from sticking to molds and have never had a mold stick. I have built a couple of boats using Tom Hill's method and I coat the building jig with the Johnson's product and have never had a planked hull stick to the jig although I must confess that it is a bit of a nail biting time when I'm ready to lift her off the jig. I don't like to use plastic sheet because it seems to get in the way but have used wax paper with great success.........(and this is WAX paper, not Saran wrap, etc.)