On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:26:40 -0500, clare at snyder.on.ca wrote:

Anyone with any experience bending solid(not ply) 3/8" wood to roughly
9" radius? Peice is 12-15" wide and 4 feet long.
What's best? Elm? Green or air dried? Soaked, steamed or heated?
Bend around a solid buck? This is to be basically unsupported in
use(will have a base, but nothing else.
Think "bucket seat" "U" shaped back fastened to chair seat - the long
ends of the "U" being the armrest.

Green wood bends easily. Ash have very good steam bending qualities.
I have bent oak, walnut, and maple in a tighter radius than 9".
Usually, I will rip thin (1/8") strips, steam them, set them into a
jig to dry, then glue up a lamination. This makes a *very* strong
piece.