: Havn't tried it but I suspect if you soak the dowels for a day or so then use
: a heat gun to apply local heating that the dowels will bend just fine.

: Bill H.

That doesn't work with oak. Oak has such large grain that when you get down to 1/8" dowel if even one grain separates (which it does easily at that size) then there is nothing else to hold it together.

I will try balsa I guess, and if that doesn't work then I'll look at small green limbs. And if that doesn't work perhaps I'll use wire, although I really hate doing things that way.

BTW, I am building a model baidarka. It is almost completely finished except for the ribs. That's why I need to bend dowel. If I make a full size baidarka I will be tempted to use flat stock instead of dowel, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Paul M