Chris,

Have you been using a backing strap? How long did you steam it for?

It does look like runout, but you may be able to work around it with a backing strap. Conningham talks about it in his book, but a lot of people skip the strap, and many pay the price.

Ideal wood, does not have grain the crosses the thickness, in less length than 12 times the thickness. So on a 1/4" thick piece of wood, the grain won't go from one side to the other in less than 3". BUT, you don't need ideal wood, for ribs on these things. Okay wood will do the job if steamed long enough, and a backing strap is used. I've seen 1/4" oak with runout in 1" bend successfully, this way.

Mike

: 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