: My SOF project was going really great...until today. I'm building based on
: Cunningham's book. I'm really happy with the deck so far - all those
: mortises and tenons at odd angles really do work.

: Then there are the ribs. I ordered a piece of bending oak. Ripped it down to
: the right size for the ribs. At that point, even before I'd cut them to
: length, I had one or two of the 8' long pieces that seemed like they
: wanted to break.

: I plunged on, hoping it was just a minor problem. I soaked all the pieces for
: a couple of weeks. Cut them to length, thinned the ends as recommended in
: the book. But now that it's time to bend them I just can't get them to
: bend without breaking. My steamer seems to be doing the right thing,
: putting out lots of steam - and the ribs are soft when they come out of
: it, not brittle. But every one of them is breaking.

: I suspect the problem is grain runout - I've attached a picture of one of the
: broken ribs.

: I don't think I want to go through the time and expense of ordering another
: piece of bending oak - I'll probably just go to a local hardwood supplier
: and look for ash or oak and try that.

: Does that sound reasonable? Which is better, ash or white oak? Does this
: sound like a problem with the grain? Is it more likely my milling of it or
: just the particular board I used?

: Thanks for any input you might have - I really want to get past this part of
: the process.

: Chris

Chris,
Can't tell ya if it is run out or not. I just found out what it was a few months ago and still wouldn't know what it was if I was looking right at it. I can tell you that you can use kiln dried white ash. I'm sure air dried would be better but kiln dried will work just fine too. Soaking is key. Three days and steamed for 15-20 minutes. I broke a few but they were fixable. I had sharper bends than a Greenland rib too.
I guess most of "The Books" specify flat grain but mine were vertical grain. I thought I had screwed up but they worked fine and I just figured I got lucky. I think it was on the Greenland board, there was a brief discussion recently on grain orientation and the posters both agreed that vertical was better. I guess that it can go both ways. Probably depends on which wood you choose.
Kiln dried white ash is pretty easy to get too. I picked up an 8' 7/8"x10" for $13.
Good Luck.