Few people know that Ted's stems were never covered with glass

This is not correct. Reading the referenced page in KayakCraft, and looking at the picture of Ted trimming the glass right at the apex of the stem, it's clear that the stems are covered with glass - a single layer, from each side. Only the very 'apex' of the stem is possibly missing glass. I'm sure if Moores had been using 4 oz glass, he wouldn't have had any problems with transparency. If you've ever seen one of Ted Moores boats 'up close' you'll realize that he had very high standards (and certainly knew how to handle bias cut strips).

The laminated stem construction was a big advance from the 'vestigial' method in David Hazen's book- the same method used by the early marathon canoe builders, where the ends of the strips were just rounded over and glassed. In that method, usually the strips were 'cris-crossed' alternately at the stems. End-grain cedar is not at all 'dent-proof'; even flat- or edge-grain cedar is soft, as Jay points out.

Veneer on the stems, and 'don't bump into anything'....definitely in the 'Work of Art' division, IMO.
Lots of different approaches; keeps things interesting.