: Without a lecture on how okoume is better than Luan, I was wondering if
: anyone could shed some light on steam bending luan plywood for a cambered
: deck. Actually any bending method that results in a crack free luan deck
: would be great.

Hi,
If it's the type of luan that has a thick core and thin facings, it won't take a bend very well no matter what. The thick core stops it bending along the face grain, and as thin as they are, the face veneers will stop it bending well too.

If the laminates are the same size or close, it can be persuaded to bend quite a bit.
On your deck, the visible grain will be running fore and aft, so a thinner core would be better.

Dampening the outside face of the ply might let it bend enough. Steaming would be difficult unless you can get the steam to all of the area you need to bend at the same time.
A bit of caution, damp ply can warp strangely.

The only doorskin ply that I ever got to bend consistently was some stuff called PalmaPly, three veneer 3mm (1/8") with the veneers the same thickness. It's a pale white colour and fairly dense. It might be Spanish in origin.

Hope this helps,
Mike Savage
South West Cork