: Like any new tool and skill to be learned, it will take a little time and
: patience to produce the desired results. But, once you learn to use the
: heat gun to bend strips you will want to use it anywhere on your boat
: where you twist or bend a strip.

An important thing to understand about heat gun bending is that you must clamp and apply bending torque very close to the section to be bent. If you try to put a small bend in the long strip it won't work well if at all.

Also your wood can't have any grain run out!

Clamp the strip or put it in a vise so one section of the strip will be immobile at one end of the bend and hold the other section as close as possible to where the bend will stop. This will allow you to focus the heat and torque in the smallest area possible which will make the bending most effective.

With only the section to be bent immobilized, apply torque. Then apply the heat moving the heat gun back and forth over the strip. When the strip reaches the right temperature you will feel the tension in the strip release and you can bend the strip more or stop an see if the desired bend has been achieved.

You can bend more or apply heat to straighten a spot that was bent too far. I haven't found the curves needed for my biadarka tail shape are strip brakers. I have found that wood with any grain run out will break.

Once you get the feel for it you should be able to bend the strip to any shape needed for a stripper. But it won't work if your strip has grain run out.

Hop this helps.

Rob