It is time to bend the board. The wood has been soaking in water for a day, so it should be good and wet. I set everything up on the bench so that it will all be there when I start. You can see the heat gun and the pushing board. I also have set out the steam iron that I have used previously to flatten some warped wood for a finger board. Check it out here. I might be able to use that in a pinch if the heat gun doesn't work out.

The Bending form Clamped in the Vise

I set the clamps out on the WorkMate® so that they will be right at hand as I bend the board. I will slowly bend the board around and clamp it against the form as I go along.

The Clamps Are Ready

I pulled the board out of the water and bolted it to the form as you can see in the photo below.

The Wet Board Clamped to the Form

I don't have any photos of me bending the board with the heat gun because, well, I was busy bending the board. Part way through I did notice that this was going on down at the bolted end.

Crack

I bent it some more, and the crack grew.

Bigger Crack

This isn't looking too good. But I kept going. I had to push really hard on the board to get it to bend. It was also drying out fast from the heat gun. I even tried using the iron to apply heat directly to the board. It didn't help much. I did manage to get the whole thing wrapped around the form.

All Wrapped Up

I let the board dry for a couple of hours and then took it off. I had a little springback.

Springback. Yikes!

You can also see that one end is twisted and the other end is cracked. It isn't round at all, but C shaped.

Here's Another Angle

The crack on the bolted end is severe. I don't think that there is any way I can get a hoop out of this board.

Severely Cracked End

Well now, that was an unmitigated disaster. I just could not get the board hot enough fast enough to make it flexible. I basically brute forced it around the form, and then it split, warped, and sprung back.

I don't think the heat gun thing is going to work. I need to rethink this whole thing.