: 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.

Sounds like a plan. Make sure the first bend doesn't straighten out while soaking, though.

I hot-glued a bunch of 3/4" high blocks to the bottom of the riser, spaced every 4 or 6" or so, to have something solid to bend against at that 3/4" line. It makes lining up the strips pretty easy while you clamp them in place to cool/dry. Helps to line 'em up for gluing, too.

If the bend is not dramatic, you could try a heat gun. For my coaming lip, I did all my bends dry, with a heat gun. I didn't use oak, though. I used ash and walnut, and my strips were only 1/4" high (not 7/16") so my vertical bend wasn't as tough as yours.

: 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?

I used thickened epoxy to attach the first strip to the riser, and regular titebond for all the other strips. In that order, one strip at a time. I suppose you could glue all the strips together first, then attach it later, but if it dries slightly off, it will be much more rigid, and harder to force into position.

If you use unthickened epoxy to attach the lip to the riser, it could run out and starve the joint. Thickened is more likely to stay put.

Ken