: CALLING ALL EXPERTS! I'M IN DEEP TROUBLE HERE!

: I'm building an Outer Island. I'm trying to lay the strips that go by the
: side of the cockpit and from the front deck to the low rear deck. My
: strips are air dried WRC cove and bead 11/16" wide and .275"
: thick ala the One Ocean concept.

: The problem is that I can't get the strips to take the bend from the front to
: rear deck. Over 75% of my tries have fractured, regardless of the method
: used.

: These strips are too stiff to make the bends cold without introducing a lot
: of residual stress in the deck so I've concentrated on methods employing
: moisture and steam.

: Thanks,

: Ken Blanton

More than 1/4" thick! No wonder you can't bend it.

Using narrower width strips may work but they may also not look good
with the rest of your deck pattern. To use the same width but make the strips
more flexible you can do the following.

Lay your strip in place where you want it on the deck and mark the area you need to bend.

Take the strip to your table saw and set your fence to 3/16'. What you want to do is to
take excess wood off the BACK of your strip to make it more flexible

Lower your saw blade. Spring clamp featherboards to the strip to the fence so the BACK of
the strip at the start of the marked area is over the blade. Turn on your saw and raise the
blade into the strip then continue cutting away the excess on the back of the strip that needs
to be more flexible, then stop, and lower the blade out of the wood.

Use a block plane to taper the step at the beginning and end of the cut so the wood won't
split there.

This strip should bend quite easily to the shape you need. Be sure to align the top surface
of the new thinner strip with the top (exterior) surface of your thicker strips. If you still need
more help I'd use a heat gun along with the thinner strips in the cockpit area.

Later, on the inside, you can add wood filler to make the transition from thinner to thicker
strips. Then you can add as much extra glass to the underside as you wish to make the cockpit
area as strong as you like.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com