I like to use a contrasting timber for the end stems. Since I use Paulownia for the hull and most of the deck, I have used mostly Jarrah, but have also used Wenge.

I also laminate from a number of layers of 2mm to 3mm strips. I just tape the layers in place one at a time. I have had fewer problems doing one at a time rather than all together. The sharper the bend, the thinner the strips needed to make it an easy job. A heat gun should be enough to encourage the laminations to conform to the shape of the stem.

As the stem is covered in glass, I see no reason to use epoxy to glue them and just use the same PVA I use for the stripping. None of the more than a dozen kayaks I have built over the last 13 years has suffered any failures, so I am convinced that PVA is adequate for the job.

Maybe some of the timbers Americans use are difficult to get in Australia, but at least in Australia we can get better quality Paulownia than many of them can. :)