i HAVE OVER THE LAST yEAR STUDINGED THE PLANK BENDING. i HAVE 25 DIFFERENT CHAPTERS MOST OF THEM WITH SUB CHAPTERS. (sorry)
Out of all these methods, only a few is really working. some can be even harmful as caustic soda (NaOH). Soaking in water for a long time is either NO GOOG. The wood will such up water and by then1000 or more Bacterias, which can destroy de wood, so it is easy to bend and set nails, etc in, BUT the wood will dry out again, which gives some physical strengths, which can change the bulkhead position. In the end -after even having seen hear special equipment for bending- the is to me ONLY STEAM -high temperature- Electrically bending as seen here, with high temperature and FINALLY BUT NOT THE LAST "DRY BENDING" Many of you may not know it, BUT it WORKS and it is a very cheap tool. will add some pic. but it consists of an empty TIN (from Beans etc) which is Strongly faster too a piece of Wood horizontal. Now you take 3-4 candlelight (those from Chenice Restaurant, lit it and 30 min. later the tin is BURNING hot. Now simply add your planks -2mm no problem- and the good thing are, that the planks will stay bend, so one can make a batch
Why some are better than others, you will need to know, what is the raw material of Wood. You may be surprised WOOD is build up of 3 huge SUGAR molecules -YES sugar =GLUCOSE the smallest stone. The 3 parts is Cellulose 40-60% -HehiCellulose 40-60% and about 5 10% Lignin. Each sort has a different amount of mainly of Cellulose and Hemi-celluslose. To destroy this HUGE tridimensional Biochemical complex WE NEED a very high temperature