: Very interesting! There certainly is a marked difference with the strip
: orientation. With strips generally lengthwise, what does the curvature of
: the hull do to increase the lower numbers? Or do you have a feel for that?

I don't have a real good feel for how curvature will effect the strength. It is interesting also, that while the samples bent across the grain were much less stiff and failed at a lower force, in no case did the cloth that was in tension break. The cloth in compression would buckle or break and the wood split, but the cloth that was in tension stayed intact. Even after the initial failure the samples continued to absorb energy.

This is quite different from the samples bent along the grain, where the cloth in tension was typically broken or badly damaged while the cloth in compression sustained less damage or sometimes survived intact. These samples tended to break completely and no longer resisted the applied force.