The wood has been drying now for 24 hours, so I took off the clamps to see what I have.
The Wood Is Bent
That doesn't look too bad. It didn't split, and it is certainly round. It is better than before, but it isn't good enough yet.
For one thing, the springback is too much, so the hoop is too big. I will never be able to bend that into a 13" hoop.
This Is Round, But Too Big
Here is another view of the bent wood from the other side. This is certainly closer to what I am looking for than were my previous attempts.
Another View of the Bent Wood
There is another issue with the wood as well. There are flat places in the curvature of the board. I think that those flat places are where I had put the C clamps. They seem to have flattened the curvature of the board in those places.
You Can See a Flat Place in the Board
I don't think that I will be able to get a hoop out of this board, especially with those flat places in it. The C clamps turned out to be a bad idea after all. So I need to go address those new issues and try again.
Next time I will figure out how to fix the bracket that holds the tail of the wood and also I must design a new, better steam box. One that won't melt in the steam.
