Tonight I did a little stove top steaming and it worked very well. I tried the iron but was not getting enough steam. I am bending red oak in 1/8" thick x 7/16" tall strips around my coaming riser. There are really only two bends that required steaming. Two pots on the stove and the strips laid across them put the steam right where I needed it most. I now have everything clamped on to my riser for the evening.

My question is how do I get enough bend in the 7/16" tall strip to allow it to conform to the curvature of the deck? I marked out a line exactly 3/4" off the deck and conforming to it's contours. My strips would not bend to this line. I think part of the reason was the two pots of steaming water were just not enough to steam the whole length at once. Now that I already have the strips conforming to the pattern of the riser I am wondering if maybe I've jumped the gun.

My thought is to let the strips dry out real well tommorrow clamped in place and then remove them the next day and soak them for a few hours in hot water, then clamp them on again to conform to the riser and follow my curving line.

Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated. Meanwhile I'll go take a closer look at some building sites to see what I can find out about this problem.

Thanks,

Tony

PS--Once everything is conformed and ready for permanent attachment, can I just glue the strips together with Titebond II wood glue and then attach the assembly to the riser with unthickened epoxy?