For 99.9% of strip building, steam bending is not necessary or even close to necessary. Once in a while you get a stubborn bend and a heat gun works best. For bending 1/4" x 1/4 oak for a coaming I use 1" copper pipe that I solder a T fitting in the middle. I just shove some cloth in the end, shove in the wood piece and suspend this on blocks over an electric tea kettle that has a fitting that mates to the T fitting. the wood is like licorice in 5 minutes. Once you take the piece out of the pipe, it starts stiffening up immediately so you have to work fast. That's why the heat gun is best for stripping and as Ken pointed out, soft woods really don't soften much with heat or moisture like hard woods.