: I am new to kayaking, this is my first build. Thinking of steam
: bending and laminating. The walnut is 1 1/4" quarter sawn,
: mahogany is 3/4", could be resawn. Haven't done any steam
: bending yet. What thickness lamination's would you suggest?
: Thinking of using the walnut, it's been sitting in my garage for
: 25 years, was originally a door frame that I removed from a
: hospital.

: George in Va

Generally steaming is best done with green wood, very old very dry wood will I'd expect be somewhat difficult to steam. That said, if the laminations are thin enough almost anything will steam, even softwoods. Takes some experimenting to find out how thin the strips need to be to be bent over the form (yes, you need a form to bend the strips over and clamp them in place until they cool).

General rule of steaming is an hour an inch (thickness), over steaming can make the wood harder yet to steam so need to pay attention to how long the strips are in the steamer.

Bill H.