Hi Will,

I'm a stitch and glue'er (until my next boat) so I have no experience bending redwood but I have curved many a hockey stick using a propane torch. I wouldn't reccomend a torch for your wood but try the same method with your heat gun. Heat the wood slowly by keeping the heat gun moving to avoid scorching, heating both sides of the strip, pass the heat back and forth along the strip where you want to bend until the wood is heated to the core. The blade of the sticks I am bending are epoxy/glass covered the wood is ash, and after only a minute or two of careful heating they become very pliable and it's easy to put a nice smooth curve in the stick without delaminating the 'glass. Unless the bending characteristics of redwood and ash are VERY different careful heating should work. I think the secret is not to rush.

Good luck,

Ken

: Ok, I wrote in a couple of weeks ago about having trouble getting my strips
: to bend into shape at the bow and sterm of the one-oceans cape anne double
: I am building. I got back lots of good ideas and suggestions, one of which
: involved the use of a heat gun on the sections of strip with the most
: curvature. I went out and got a middle-of-the-line heat gun (high &
: low heat setting)to try this method out. I think I am doing something
: wrong, because this does not seem to be helping bend the strips a whole
: lot. Here is my method: 1) saturate a cloth in water and wrap it around
: the strip, squeezing the cloth as I move it along the portion of the strip
: I want to bend. This gets the entire outside of the strip saturated.

: 2) Turn the gun on high and move back and forth across the now wet strip. I
: stop when the water is almost all evaporated and try to bend the strip.

: 3) bend the strips. The wood is redwood. The heating doesn't seem to change
: the load I have to apply to get the strips to bend. Also, the strips
: spring back to an almost straight shape even after being un-clamped (If I
: don't apply glue)

: I do not have any experience with steaming wood, and I think that this method
: with the heat gun is an attempt to "steam" without using a
: chamber. Maybe I should just suck it up and build a small steam box. Here
: are my questions: - Do you have to SOAK the strip instead of just wiping
: with water?
: - How high of a heat and for how long?
: - When do you remove the heat? When the strip is damp? dry?
: - Do you glue the strip immediately after bending, or just clamp in place and
: let it dry in the bent shape? If the strip is still wet after bending,
: will regular titebond create a good joint? Same question for regulare
: steaming...do you glue when the wood is still wet?

: Thanks for the help....it is really appreciated

: ---Will