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(Kevin) wrote in message . com...

As for bending:

I will soak the birch in a very hot bath, throw in some amonia (into
the hot bath), and spot spray with water & heat it with a flat iron as
needed while applying it (a technique I saw described in one of the
model airplane building groups where the guy said he wrapped 6 inches
1.5mm around a pencil, in a very tight spiral).

Thanks,
Kevin
That was me. I had used the water spray/flatiron technique
to bend 1.5 mm aircraft birch ply around the leading edges of a wing
(a real airplane) where the radius was as low as an inch or so. I did
the pencil thing just to see how tight it would bend without breaking.
The ply will bend more easily across the grain using this technique,
since the outer plies are easily penetrated with the steam and will
deform well, while the inner ply is still somewhat dry and stiff and
works better parallel to the bend.
Don't use your wife's good iron. The resins from the wood will
stain it and she will get steamed up, too.

Dan