Today I’ve started bending one of the lower longerons. I made a template of exactly the right shape to start with. I know the wood will spring back a little after bending, but I don’t know how much exactly, so by doing it like this first, I can measure the effect and adjust my template accordingly.

I’ve soaked the longer in water for over an hour (in a capped PVC pipe), clamped it to the template, and than heated it with a household iron, effectively steaming bending the wood. This method is way easier to manage than actually steaming the wood and should work great for these sizes:

I’ve made the template and fixture so that I can iron the wood from three sides, to maximize the effect of the iron:

After most of the water was steamed out and the wood appeared to be dry, I will now let it sit for 24 to 48 hours to fully dry, before I will check the results.

Here’s a small vid of the result, as it was difficult to capture the whole setup in a single photo: