: I used it and it worked great as long as you bend it smoothly. On my first
: few attempts, I tried to bend it fast, since I was told that you only have
: a few seconds of working time. That's bunk! Bend it smoothly around a form
: (I used a chunk of 4" PVC pipe) and fine-tune the bend with your
: hands and you'll break very few ribs, even with wood that's so-so.

: Ya got that right!

I always use this little trick for bending wood:

If it is a mild bend, I simply heat the area to bend with a paint stripper heat gun and then bend and or twist the wood. When it cools the wood will hold about 80% of the bend. You need to be careful not to burn the wood. For more severe bends I will moisten the wood with water before heating. This process is very quick. It often takes only about 1 minute to have a strip bent to shape. I have used this process with western red cedar and with black ash.

If you look at the picture of the ash being bent around the cockpit coaming, you will see how severe the bend is. 1st try without heating the ash caused it to split. Once I got the heat gun on it and slowly applied pressure it went like melting butter.

If you have not tried this technique, I highly suggest it.

Tom