Bending Luan

[Oldironsides]

Has anyone ever soaked Luan to bend it or had any other method that has produced good results. Or would I be better off with another type of wood that would be more succeptable to soaking to bend to create the bow of a skiff

 

[oldsparkey]

I made my skiff from Luann and it bent in to form the bow of it without soaking. If you have a piece that is hard to bend , bend it a little and let it sit holding that bend , then bend it some more the next day , eventually it will take shape.

Mine bent into shape without any problems the 1st day.

 

[WDfrmTN]

I dry bend mostly, a little at time. Unless it's marine ply, wetting it wouldn't be the best. Now, I have taken a soaked towel to wet the "inside" and "outside" plies a tad to ease some stress if the fibres looked like they would "pull".

 

[rpecot]

Luan ply? I bought the 4mm ply for my UJ. Bent real easy; dry.

Here I was gluing the ribs in place:


Here is a few different angles gluing the bottom to the sides: