I saw the photo of the 1x1 oak tied in a knot in one of the boatbuilding
books at the library, probably L Frances Herreshoff(?)

as for moisture content of wood, it does change quite a bit. We've read
here before about the importance of getting the moisture content down to
12% to prevent warping and rot. I even leave my wood cross country skis
outside for a few days before applying pine tar to the base, just to make
sure the wood is not too dry to be springy when I'm using them. I'm sure
if wood only needed to be heated to bend then for centuries boatbuilders
would have been using dry ovens instead of more complicated steam boxes
for bending. And natives would have left wood in the sun to warm up prior
to bending rather than soaking canoe ribs and planks without heat to make
them easier to bend. Anybody who wants to try a comparsion can heat wood
in an oven or microwave dry or wet and test the difference. What we don't
have in this, and many discussions, is any experimental data.

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