Definitly! I get a lot of bright ideas ... many sound good on paper but when I try one, I often find a glitch. Then, it's off to the next idea ... or ... it's off, once again ... to the hardware store to buy more stuff to make all these bright ideas work ... revise an idea ... buy more stuff!

I use a jig to hold the strip as I bend it. I've had mixed results bending with water and heat. Often, no matter how slow I go the wood fractures. I've wondered if the water loosens up the stuff that holds the wood fibers together to such a degree that the wood fails by shear stress at the line between the wet outer wood and the dry inner wood. That's the type of fractures I'm getting ... shear fractures.

Sometimes dry heat and s-l-o-w bending works just fine ... sometimes it fails immediatly.

Discounting the dimensions of my strips, I think the problem is more the nature of my wood.

Thanks,

Ken

: Yeah, those are GOOD points!!! Something that happens around my boatbuilding
: too … Sounds good, but in practice …. There's a fly in the ointment (or in
: this case the epoxy). I am not familiar with the boat you're building, so
: don't know if what I did in one hard to "conform" area would
: work for you here, but here goes: At the bow I had a very severe and
: compound shape. Nothing else I tried worked so I ended up making a
: "Jig" that was in 2 parts (made of 2" x 6"'s cushioned
: with rubber bands) that were connected with through bolts with "wing
: nuts". The "jig" was made in the shape of the boat at the
: point at which I need to "control" the strip and
: "hold" it in place DESPITE what the STRIP WANTED. The through
: bolts allowed me to slowly TIGHTEN the strip in to place (wet it and
: tighten a little at a time) S-L-O-W-L-Y-! was the key and water (wet rag
: and heat gun). Then I could tighten the "jig" and hold each
: strip in place. Like I say don't know if this could work for you, but it
: was my only thought.

: Joe