dowel bending

Last time I tried something like that it was balsa wood and for an engineering prototype I was working on. All I did was steam it, secure it in a bent position until it dried, steam it, secure it in a tighter bend, steam it, repeat. You didn't say how far you need to bend it, but if you take it SLOW it should bend - like a week maybe.

You may have to split out the dowel stock green and run it through a dowel plate in order to reliably bend it... by splitting it out you end up with continuous, but not necessarily straight, grain along the length. This way you don't get short grain where the dowel would split when bent. I suspect if you Google and look for something about splitting out ram rods for muzzle loaders you'd find some useful information on how to make the dowel. By using green wood you could probably just bend it into shape and let it dry that way... expecting some spring back.

John

how's bout using a green twig or switch of a bush or small tree. google twig furniture ross