Now that I have the 11" form, I tried to bend another piece of wood on it. I tried to figure out how to make a bending strap out of that nylon tow strap, but nothing I came up with would have worked. I could attach one end to the angle bracket, but then wrapping it around and over itself past there would cause a bump again that I had gotten rid of by cutting the notch in the form. So I have given up on using the strap for now, and I tried to bend another board without it.

I used oak again, thinking that the previous board split because I had tried to wrap it up to tightly on the 10" form. Here are the timing details.

Start the steamer at 12:20
Full steam and insert board at 12:51 - 31 minutes to start
Turn the board over at 13:06 - 15 minutes on first side
Pull out and bend 13:21 - 15 minutes on the second side.

Here is the wood wrapped around the form.

The Oak is Wrapped Around the Form

The wood ended up egg shaped again. If you look closely you can see the pointy end right across from where the clamps are.... right by that screw hole. I have to figure out why I am getting egg shaped bends.

The Wood Bent Egg Shaped Again

It also split again. In fact, it split right where the point of the egg is.

The Wood Has Split at the Point

Here is a closeup. Right where the point of the egg is, the wood has split.

The Split and the Point Coincide

This is an interesting hobby.... taking perfectly good hard wood boards and turning them into pretzelated shards. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe the oak isn't all that much easier to bend after all. More steam? Try to make that bending strap?