You don't say what design you are building, but I cut my strips quite thin, brush with resin and then I am able to bend them quite easily. I have used mahogany, walnut, ash, cedars, padauk and several other woods with no problem. I make each half seperately on seperate days, remove, then clean up, make each half fit and then glue both on. Lot's of clamps, but with epoxy there is lots of working time to get everthing lined up. It is very hard if not impossible to bend around the front of most kayak cockpits other than maybe a round greenland style.