: Well the ash I've had forever was unsuitable, I tried boiling what POC I had
: to the point where I was pulling what little hair I had left. Finally got
: PO'd and built a boiler and a steam box set the boiler on top of my crab
: cooker threw my last stick of POC in let it cook for a few minutes and it
: turned to putty. I then grabbed some WRC I had cut for my next canoe and
: gave it a whirl, it bent beautifully my only question is. Will it be
: strong enough? I've got a bunch of it, cut to width and thickness already.

Bob,

You may want to search the baidarka archives. My impression from following the discussions there, is that WRC is not very suitable for ribs. I use WRC for paddles but consider it too brittle for ribs. Even with using ash or oak, many Greenland kayaks that get hard service, tend to break a few ribs over the years.

Harvey Golden's website lists his favorite SOF materials (scroll down to the image of him twisting a rib like a pretzel).

Greg Stamer