The manner of forming the gunwales varied somewhat. If the stakes around the building frame had been set to stand vertically, it was necessary to assemble the gunwales with temporary crosspieces, or false thwarts, each shorter by several inches than would be the finished thwart in their place, or twice the amount of flare desired. After the gunwale assembly had been set above the building frame on the usual posts to determine its height above the building bed, the bark cover would be lashed to each gunwale member. This done, each crosspiece would be removed in turn and replaced with its corresponding thwart. By this means the gunwales would be spread and, in the process, lowered in proportion to the change in beam. This would usually make too much sheer. Therefore, if the gunwales were to be spread as a result of the side stakes standing vertically, they had to be formed with some reverse sheer amidships. This was done as usual, by first treating each member with hot water and then weighting it on a long plank, or unused building bed, over a block placed under it at midlength. The height of the block would determine the amount the sheer was "humped" in the middle, usually only an inch or so. The gunwale ends were also treated with hot water and sometimes were split horizontally to get the required sheer there; they were then bent up and held, while drying and setting, by a long cord that was stretched between them and placed under tension by means of a strut, about 4 feet long, placed under the cord at midlength and stepped on the gunwale member being bent. However, if the side stakes were set sloping outward, it was unnecessary to hump the sheer amidships. The reason why many builders preferred to set the stakes on the bed vertically was that it made easy the goring and the sewing of the bark cover side panels; if the bark available for the cover required little sewing, the sloping stakes might be preferred. It appears, however, that the usual procedure was to set the stakes vertically and to spread the gunwales, since good bark was usually available. A good deal of judgment was required to estimate the amount of hump or reverse to be worked into the gunwale members; too much would leave a hump in the sheer of the finished canoe and not enough would cause too much dip amidships. Before being bent to sheer, the gunwale members were worked smooth with a plane or with scrapers made of glass or steel. The building frame was taken apart and removed from the canoe after most of the thwarts were in place.