The Tongass!
Step 1) Making the stem
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Laminating the stem Apparently there is no dry select structural Douglas Fir within a few hundred miles of where I live (Albany, Oregon)...so, as shown in the picture, I ended up laminating up the stem out of clear vertical grain (CVG) Douglas Fir that I got from Lowes instead.
After the lamination had cured, I used my DeWalt 12-1/2" thickness planer to bring the stem down to finished size (3-1/2" wide by 2-3/4" thick.) You could just as easily do this with a table or band saw, or maybe a jig or Skil saw with a deep enough running blade. The stem planed down to size
End view of finished stem piece Here you can see the bottom end of the stem. Note the grain pattern in the CVG fir. I laminated the wood so that the pattern was opposing (herring bone pattern) and running in opposite direction. The lumber is also oriented edgewise fore and aft. This results in the strongest and stiffest lamination possible. The angled cut was made with the table saw set to 32.5 degrees and with the narrow face of the stem flat on the table. This produces the required 115 degree angle across the point (when laid flat.) Notice that I also used a 1/4" roundover bit to round the back edges of the stem since this will later get glassed over and the glass needs a smooth radius for good adhesion.
Here's a look at the other end of the stem, the 50-degree angle cut so the stem will meet the sheer deck (shelves) at the correct angle. Note that unlike the Widebody and Standard boat's stems, this stem is cut straight. This makes it easy to produce the whole thing with a standard table saw. I used my Bosch 12" compound miter saw to produce the 50-degree cut shown (angle is hard to see from this perspective.) Note that to get a 50-degree angle as shown in Renn's drawings, you need to set the saw to 40 degrees (90 minus 50 degrees.) Get used to it...cutting correct angles for building boats always requires a little thinking and a lot of "subtracting from 90" to get the blade angles correctly set. Renn has you trimming and reshaping the stem to fit later on in the process, but for now this puppie is done and set aside. Shelf end of stem
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