Your illustration represents slash sawn ? surely you meant quarter sawn ?

--
"A fine beer can be judged by one sip but it's better to be sure" Ian
Kentish in Bendigo 36:46:13 S 144:15:466 E


"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message
news:Q57df.299$Pa4.178@trndny01...
wrote:
I am building a geodesic Snowshoe 14. I am having a hard time finding
green ash or white oak for the ribs. Can I steambend and use the pine
I have left over from making the stringers?

No, pine doesn't bend worth a damn and the moisture of steaming will
cause it to warp when it dries. Don't waste your time.

I can get red oak. Would this be any better than pine for the ribs?

Vastly superior. Red oak bends nicely, especially if it's green or air
dried. I've used it for ribs and coamings in a couple of kayaks.

Depending on what you have for shop equipement, you can pick up green
wood from firewood dealers for next to nothing and mill it yourself.
This gives you the advantage of controlling the grain orientation, which
is gritical to good bending. For best results, you want vertical grain
bending stock (it looks like ||||||||||||||||| on the ends) and the
grain should runs as straight down the stock as possible.