Bending wood

The keel was to have a "keel strip" run along it following the curve of the bottom of the boat. This meant a new technique for me - soaking wood to make it more flexible.

The wood to be bent was 1/8th inch square basswood. Bendy but not bendy enough in its natural state. The instructions just said to soak it but gave no more details. As the strip was 2 feet long the only place it was going to get soaked was in the bath. A couple of centimetres of water gave enough of a puddle so I chucked the first stick in.

Ten minutes later and the wood colour had darkened which I assumed ment it was wet enough. Taking it out I was shocked how flexible it was - you really could put a significant bend in it, much more than I needed for this job. I know I shouldn't have been surprised, this is a well established technique in use for thousands of years - but I'm a literal sort of person and need to see results with my own eyes.

Anyway, the first few cm of the strip was stuck in place with superglue. Once this held, a matter of moments, the rest went in with a combination of alphatic resin and Zap. Clamps held it in place while the glue grabbed. I waited for the wood to return to it's pre-wetted colour before removing them. Again I was surprised not to see the strip uncurl from the keel but it all worked. The excess was chopped off and kept as it had returned to its original shape.

Then I did the whole lot again on the other side.