On Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 2:02:16 PM UTC-6, Electric Comet wrote:
not something you see every day

looks like a professional job although the curve could be a little
smoother


probably not easy to apply that though


http://brunerlumber.com/wp-content/g...e-Const-04.jpg

The curve looks pretty smooth, to me. Pecky boards are not smooth, anyway.. As Iggy notes, maybe it's the lighting and photo angle.

Pecky cypress is not necessarily sinker cypress... from a log that has been sunk for a long time. It's really hard to bend pecky cypress, even waterlogged sinker boards. It's just too brittle. Also, the gaps/holes in the wood are weak spots.

It would be easier to bend the wood while still wet. Pecky cypress boards are simply hard to bend, without it breaking, and usually/often it breaks in several places.

The way I was taught to bend pecky and other old cypress is to wrap sheet metal on the convex side, looping and securing the metal around the ends of the board. The metal keeps the convex side from stretching (and breaking)..... the concave side compresses together. Boards are soaked (or steamed?), before bending. Steaming is often a waste of time. Just soaking is sufficient.

As to the pic, they may have attached it to a ply backing, a bent substrate, before installation in that application. I suppose, with fast commercial heat-treated gluing/drying, these days, a ply substrate would be an easier process, than what I (or any *DIYer) would do in my (*their) shop. Also, as to the pic, the radius doesn't look too great, so maybe they were able to gently bend it a little at a time, if the boards are fairly thick. I would be interested in knowing exactly how they bent the boards.

As to pecky veneer, probably almost impossible, especially for a curved application. The thinner, the more brittle. With all the weak spots, it just doesn't stay intact, even for flat applications. The pic (below) is one ceiling in my upholstery shop. I made triangle panels, then lifted the panels into position. The pecky boards are about 1/8"- 1/4" thick and attached to 1/4" ply, before installation. Many of the boards broke/split during handling, during the whole process. The seams are covered with 3/4" stock.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/438361...in/photostream

Sonny