Indeed. :lol:
And that's just on the "equatorial" axis (so to speak). Facets will bite you lengthwise as well.
The line break along the top is because Zack didn't know the original stem's width at the button, so had to guess, and what looked right in his 21st century mind's eye was significantly wider than was normal/average 116 years ago.
Or, put the other way around, if the stem was exactly the right amount of narrower at the button, the top line would be level.
You sure jumped in the deep end of the repair pool, Mr. Z. :clap:
Faceted shanks and stems always bring to mind that old joke where one guy asks another why he's hitting himself over the head with a hammer, and he answers "Because it feels good when I stop." :lol:
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...I had no idea that the damn things had a constant taper from shank to stem, but it very obvious when I see the lines- thanks George!. The good news is learning to scrape nice crisp facets with a blade will help the rest of my work, because I have this wierd sense of enjoyment from doing things that have no logical justification for the amount of time required to accomplish them.... Should help tremendously because I'll be making quite a few bulldogs this year...