Hi,
Don't steam then. Simply laminate. When laminating you will get rebound if your strips are too thick. If they are too thin then the drying glue will increase the bend because the volume of glue to wood goes up. Get your strips the right thickness. You can measure that easily. They should go round the curve with hand pressure, then glue. Then you shouldn't get rebound or cupping and your present form should do.
JohnK

: Okay, I'm cheating again. This is about a canoe paddle, not a kayak paddle!

: I've now had a chance to return to some boat building stuff after a long
: absence and decided to work on my bent shaft canoe paddles.

: Yesterday I set up my bending form, steamed my strips, and clamped them in
: the bent position. I anticipated a bit of rebound after clamping, but the
: strips actually rebounded a lot! I think that the strips went from a 13
: degree bend to maybe 7 degrees. Once they are glued I guess it will stay
: in position a bit better but I imagine there will still be significant
: rebound.

: What is the logical path forward? Build another form and use this to bend the
: wood? Then glue the strips in their relaxed position (no form)? I would
: have to guess at the angle to use for this, maybe it will be a few trys
: before I get the angle correct.

: Secondly, a couple of my strips cupped after the steaming. Not too sure what
: to do about this... I was planning on using PU glue for laminations but if
: there are gaps because of the cupping then I'll have to use epoxy. Maybe
: next time it would be better to try and localize the steaming area.
: Perhaps just have kettle eject steam over the bending area (ie don't put
: the strips in a steam tube). Or maybe I could soak the bending area in
: water and try and use a heat gun. I'm using 1/4" thick walnut and
: ash. I tried using a heat gun on some walnut but it didn't seem to want to
: bend very much.

: thanks,
: Doug