: Thanks for the Info. all...

: Brian, you seem to understand what I am doing, despite my poor description.
: By the way I have not attempted pictures yet, since it sound so ominous
: from members of the board that struggle with it.

: I will use much of what you suggested; it makes sense. I just have to break
: one of the pieces for the lip first, then I will give up and make the lip
: in several pieces instead of a oner. I like this steam bending stuff tho,
: and therefore have to give it a try.

By all means try steam bending; it works really well. However, my understanding is that trying to bend a piece of wood with a rectangular cross section across the wide side is folly, as it will tend to break and/or twist into a cone shape. Bending it across the narrow dimension is a piece o' cake.

: The first two pieces are NWC and they went fine.

That makes sense, based on the way your were bending them (across the narrow side).

: I bought a piece of hickory to take the punishment on the lip.
: Hickory is supposed to outbend ash, so I will try bending the hard way and
: see if I can get away with it.

One additional question: do you have a form to bend it around? Since you intend to mount the lip on top of the two vertical pieces (a nice idea), you cannot use them as a bending form.

If you've changed your mind and are going to glue the lip to the outside of the vertical pieces, they can be used as a form. Also, since the lip only needs to be 1/2"-3/4" deep, you can cut your stock down from its current 1 1/4" width, which will make it much easier to bend.

BTW, how thick is your lip stock. I'm assuiming that it's ~1/4".

: If I fail I will try hickory again only
: with the smaller dimentions you suggested.

If you go this way, consider rounding the edge of the stock before you cut it. Then, rip off 2 or three 1/4" x 1/4" inch strips, depending on how deep you want the rim to be. That way, you'll have a rounded-edged strip to laminate on last, which is much easier than trying to round it after it's glued in place. Also, if you laminate the strips on in the same orientation and order that you cut them, the glue seams will be almost invisible and the color should match perfectly.