Howie
Wooden Canoe Maniac
I noticed a thread that discussed how to handle attaching stem bands. Attached is a pic of a fixture I cobbled up that allows me to prebend stem bands. I also use it as a form for steam-bending outer stems. It consists of a 18" core of wood screwed onto a hunk of particle board. There's a long wooden lever with a metal rod stuck into one end that fits into a hole at the center of the fixture, and a roller clamps to the side of the lever. The idea is to clamp one end of the part to be bent (either steamed wood or stem band) somewhere along the diameter, then clamp the roller onto the lever so the roller makes contact with the part. As you rotate the lever the roller causes the part to be bent against the wooden core. The lever gives you a lot of, well, leverage, so everything bends much easier than it would otherwise. Once you've bent up as much as space allows you can add more clamps and let the part sit for any amount of time to take a 'set'. There is of course a lot of spring-back, but it makes the bending job a lot easier.
