: Ted Moores advises pre-drilling, but cautions about possible kinks at the
: holes. I would think it hard to drill accurately once you've mounted the
: strip. I had to put a curve in a 1" wide pre-drilled aluminum t-track
: to match the curve the of a deck. As Moores warned the metal wanted to
: stretch at the holes, if the bending force was concentrated near a hole. I
: was able to successfully bend it by applying force between the holes. For
: this bend I used a very sophisticated tool. The receiver on my towbar and
: some wood blocks. If I were you I'd set up a simple bending jig on my
: bench (something like a dog to hold the tail and a dog to bend around) and
: bend the band to shape in a way you can control where force is applied.
: Good luck.

Pre-drill the brass band on about 5" centers. Gentle bends are no problem. Just make sure that none of your holes fall where you have a tight bend like the very end of the bow or stern. After the hard bend make sure you put two screws close together at the ends of the stem band. Try and find a strip-built canoe in your area and look to see if it has a brass stemband. I use them all the time on canoes but don't bother on kayaks.