Bob Cleek

Happy to oblige! She's looking good! 
 
When you get to beveling your frame faces, take a wider batten and glue some sandpaper to one side of it. Chalk or paint the frame faces. Lay the sanding batten against the frames, bending it to contact the "high" frame face edges. Sand with the batten, watching the chalked or painted frame faces as the chalk or paint is sanded off. This will prevent sanding too much and removing the "low" side of the frame faces. This should give you a perfectly faired frame for planking. (And if you have low spots, glue on a piece of wood, or add a bit of filler paste, and then sand fair.)
 
It's a bit tricky working around the battens you have in place. You can remove one or two, sand that area, replace them, and move on to the next. You will find that tying the battens to the frames will greatly increase the rigidity of the frame structure. You don't want frames moving (or, God forbid, breaking) as you sand. Any string or wire will work to fasten the battens to the frames. I use pieces of telephone wire or the plastic ties they sell in gardening stores for wiring plants. Small "zip ties" work well, too.
 
When it's time to define your sheer, mark the points from your table of offsets or drawings, and then define the sheer with a batten, coming as close to the points as you can. Most often, the points defining the sheer aren't going to yield a perfectly fair sheerline. There's usually an inherent error at the ends.  The elevation drawing and offsets will accurately indicate the height of the sheer, looking at it in two dimensions straight on. However, because the side of the sheer is curved, the sheer is farther away from the viewer at the bow and stern than it is amidships, which is closer to the viewer. When building, one has to compensate for this optical illusion. Slightly more sheer is required at the bow and stern than may be indicated in the plans, so as to prevent the boat, now in three dimensions, from appearing to have a "flatter" sheer than the designer intended when the vessel is viewed. Trust your batten and your eye. If it looks good, it is good. Once you have the sheer defined on one side, it's easy enough to duplicate it on the other side by transferring the measurements from the first side to the second.
 
 
You could have fooled me! It doesn't look like your cutting any corners that matter. This looks like it's going to be a very nice model and a model of a very refreshing subject! As impressive as they are, there's more to modeling than Seventeenth Century ships of the line! We need more models of working watercraft!

The trick is to keep the wood moving so it doesn't scorch. On most electric soldering irons, the lower shaft, rather than the tip end, is just about the right temperature.  If you have a clothes iron or a ladies hair curling iron, those may work well also.

Bob...as with most of your observations....your descriptions are worth a pot of gold.  I entirely agree with your observations and applications.  Rigging and sails, as you rightly depict, are the greatest scale violations in model ship building(IMHV).
 
Rob

The trick is to keep the wood moving so it doesn't scorch. On most electric soldering irons, the lower shaft, rather than the tip end, is just about the right temperature.  If you have a clothes iron or a ladies hair curling iron, those may work well also.

The trick is to keep the wood moving so it doesn't scorch. On most electric soldering irons, the lower shaft, rather than the tip end, is just about the right temperature.  If you have a clothes iron or a ladies hair curling iron, those may work well also.

While this example appears to be the "Rolls Royce" of bending irons and is priced accordingly, In my experience, bending small pieces of wood over a curved hot iron is a particularly good method. The iron supplies the heat and each side of the piece can be offered up to the iron alternately, speeding up the initial heating of the piece. Thereafter, shaping is accomplished by bending the piece directly on the iron. No heat is lost between the heat source and the bending and heated wood loses its flexibility quite rapidly as it cools. If the wood resists the bend, one need only slow the rate of bending, i.e. apply less force, and let the heat increase to permit flexing to a sharper curve, thus avoiding much of the risk of breaking the piece. Given the cost of this appliance, since most of us won't be bending the sides of a cello, the side of a soldering iron will suffice.

This is very true. Keeping in mind the example of the "bundle of straws bound together with wax," an effective transfer of heat throughout the entire piece of wood is essential to successful bending. Heating a piece "through and through" requires subjecting the piece to external heat for long enough that the heat is transferred to the center of the piece. In full size construction, the rule of thumb for heating wood before bending is one hour per inch of thickness. Thus a full size one inch thick plank must be heated for at least an hour and then quickly bent before the temperature drops and the lignin in the piece begins to harden as the temperature drops. A steam box is commonly employed to steam larger pieces of wood because it is a practical way to heat a full size plank evenly for the required length of time. Indeed, in earlier times, it was the only way to accomplish the job. (In some instances, however, short sections of a long plank can be heated sufficiently by wrapping the section to bent in rags and continuously pouring boiling water on the rags, or, as has long been the practice in the construction of Venetian gondolas, by heating the section of the plank to be bent over an open fire, a technique that takes care and expertise to avoid burning the plank.) With the very small sized thicknesses of wood encountered in modeling, the application of dry heat effectively heats the piece "through and through," obviating the need for steaming or boiling.
 
 
It is true that hot water will be absorbed by the lignin itself and thus cause softening of the lignin at lower temperatures. Heat transfers far more readily through moist wood than through drier wood. In full scale boat building, the best wood to be bent, particularly for frames, is "green wood," i.e. wood which has not been fully dried. The higher the moisture content of the bending stock, the easier it is to heat effectively and, thus, the easier it is to bend and the less likely it is to fracture when bent.  The critical factor, however, is getting the moisture into the wood. While absorption rates vary depending upon the properties of various species of wood, in any event it takes a considerable amount of time, relatively speaking, for the moisture content of wood to change. Air-drying a cut piece of stock to a usable moisture content requires one year of drying time for each inch of the stock's smallest dimension. A one inch plank should air-dry for a year before being considered sufficiently stable for it to be suitable for fitting. Even at the small dimensions encountered in modeling, increasing the moisture content of a small piece of wood throughout its entire thickness will take a surprising amount of time. Here again, the "bundle of straws stuck together in wax" analogy applies. There's not much, if any, benefit to getting just the outer surface of piece wet because the moisture isn't going to penetrate the whole piece unless it's soaked for a good bit of time. Applying the "year of air drying for each inch of thickness" to a 1/32" model plank, equals about eleven and a half days for that model plank to reach equilibrium with the ambient humidity, so the small amount of temperature reduction advantage gained by increased moisture content really isn't worth the trouble, since increasing the heat is so easily accomplished. On the other hand, using "green wood" in full size steaming jobs is advantageous because the higher moisture content makes thorough heating of the piece much more efficient owing to the more efficient transfer of heat through the wood with greater moisture content.
 
(Full disclosure disclaimer: "I'm not really a dendrologist, I just play one on the internet.  )

I should try the hot (soldering?) iron trick. Up until now I have assumed that the small contact area would be disadvantageous, but, on the other hand, the associated cost is essentially zero, if you already have an iron. Thanks for the suggestion.

While this example appears to be the "Rolls Royce" of bending irons and is priced accordingly, In my experience, bending small pieces of wood over a curved hot iron is a particularly good method. The iron supplies the heat and each side of the piece can be offered up to the iron alternately, speeding up the initial heating of the piece. Thereafter, shaping is accomplished by bending the piece directly on the iron. No heat is lost between the heat source and the bending and heated wood loses its flexibility quite rapidly as it cools. If the wood resists the bend, one need only slow the rate of bending, i.e. apply less force, and let the heat increase to permit flexing to a sharper curve, thus avoiding much of the risk of breaking the piece. Given the cost of this appliance, since most of us won't be bending the sides of a cello, the side of a soldering iron will suffice.

While this example appears to be the "Rolls Royce" of bending irons and is priced accordingly, In my experience, bending small pieces of wood over a curved hot iron is a particularly good method. The iron supplies the heat and each side of the piece can be offered up to the iron alternately, speeding up the initial heating of the piece. Thereafter, shaping is accomplished by bending the piece directly on the iron. No heat is lost between the heat source and the bending and heated wood loses its flexibility quite rapidly as it cools. If the wood resists the bend, one need only slow the rate of bending, i.e. apply less force, and let the heat increase to permit flexing to a sharper curve, thus avoiding much of the risk of breaking the piece. Given the cost of this appliance, since most of us won't be bending the sides of a cello, the side of a soldering iron will suffice.

This is very true. Keeping in mind the example of the "bundle of straws bound together with wax," an effective transfer of heat throughout the entire piece of wood is essential to successful bending. Heating a piece "through and through" requires subjecting the piece to external heat for long enough that the heat is transferred to the center of the piece. In full size construction, the rule of thumb for heating wood before bending is one hour per inch of thickness. Thus a full size one inch thick plank must be heated for at least an hour and then quickly bent before the temperature drops and the lignin in the piece begins to harden as the temperature drops. A steam box is commonly employed to steam larger pieces of wood because it is a practical way to heat a full size plank evenly for the required length of time. Indeed, in earlier times, it was the only way to accomplish the job. (In some instances, however, short sections of a long plank can be heated sufficiently by wrapping the section to bent in rags and continuously pouring boiling water on the rags, or, as has long been the practice in the construction of Venetian gondolas, by heating the section of the plank to be bent over an open fire, a technique that takes care and expertise to avoid burning the plank.) With the very small sized thicknesses of wood encountered in modeling, the application of dry heat effectively heats the piece "through and through," obviating the need for steaming or boiling.
 
 
It is true that hot water will be absorbed by the lignin itself and thus cause softening of the lignin at lower temperatures. Heat transfers far more readily through moist wood than through drier wood. In full scale boat building, the best wood to be bent, particularly for frames, is "green wood," i.e. wood which has not been fully dried. The higher the moisture content of the bending stock, the easier it is to heat effectively and, thus, the easier it is to bend and the less likely it is to fracture when bent.  The critical factor, however, is getting the moisture into the wood. While absorption rates vary depending upon the properties of various species of wood, in any event it takes a considerable amount of time, relatively speaking, for the moisture content of wood to change. Air-drying a cut piece of stock to a usable moisture content requires one year of drying time for each inch of the stock's smallest dimension. A one inch plank should air-dry for a year before being considered sufficiently stable for it to be suitable for fitting. Even at the small dimensions encountered in modeling, increasing the moisture content of a small piece of wood throughout its entire thickness will take a surprising amount of time. Here again, the "bundle of straws stuck together in wax" analogy applies. There's not much, if any, benefit to getting just the outer surface of piece wet because the moisture isn't going to penetrate the whole piece unless it's soaked for a good bit of time. Applying the "year of air drying for each inch of thickness" to a 1/32" model plank, equals about eleven and a half days for that model plank to reach equilibrium with the ambient humidity, so the small amount of temperature reduction advantage gained by increased moisture content really isn't worth the trouble, since increasing the heat is so easily accomplished. On the other hand, using "green wood" in full size steaming jobs is advantageous because the higher moisture content makes thorough heating of the piece much more efficient owing to the more efficient transfer of heat through the wood with greater moisture content.
 
(Full disclosure disclaimer: "I'm not really a dendrologist, I just play one on the internet.  )

While this example appears to be the "Rolls Royce" of bending irons and is priced accordingly, In my experience, bending small pieces of wood over a curved hot iron is a particularly good method. The iron supplies the heat and each side of the piece can be offered up to the iron alternately, speeding up the initial heating of the piece. Thereafter, shaping is accomplished by bending the piece directly on the iron. No heat is lost between the heat source and the bending and heated wood loses its flexibility quite rapidly as it cools. If the wood resists the bend, one need only slow the rate of bending, i.e. apply less force, and let the heat increase to permit flexing to a sharper curve, thus avoiding much of the risk of breaking the piece. Given the cost of this appliance, since most of us won't be bending the sides of a cello, the side of a soldering iron will suffice.

This is very true. Keeping in mind the example of the "bundle of straws bound together with wax," an effective transfer of heat throughout the entire piece of wood is essential to successful bending. Heating a piece "through and through" requires subjecting the piece to external heat for long enough that the heat is transferred to the center of the piece. In full size construction, the rule of thumb for heating wood before bending is one hour per inch of thickness. Thus a full size one inch thick plank must be heated for at least an hour and then quickly bent before the temperature drops and the lignin in the piece begins to harden as the temperature drops. A steam box is commonly employed to steam larger pieces of wood because it is a practical way to heat a full size plank evenly for the required length of time. Indeed, in earlier times, it was the only way to accomplish the job. (In some instances, however, short sections of a long plank can be heated sufficiently by wrapping the section to bent in rags and continuously pouring boiling water on the rags, or, as has long been the practice in the construction of Venetian gondolas, by heating the section of the plank to be bent over an open fire, a technique that takes care and expertise to avoid burning the plank.) With the very small sized thicknesses of wood encountered in modeling, the application of dry heat effectively heats the piece "through and through," obviating the need for steaming or boiling.
 
 
It is true that hot water will be absorbed by the lignin itself and thus cause softening of the lignin at lower temperatures. Heat transfers far more readily through moist wood than through drier wood. In full scale boat building, the best wood to be bent, particularly for frames, is "green wood," i.e. wood which has not been fully dried. The higher the moisture content of the bending stock, the easier it is to heat effectively and, thus, the easier it is to bend and the less likely it is to fracture when bent.  The critical factor, however, is getting the moisture into the wood. While absorption rates vary depending upon the properties of various species of wood, in any event it takes a considerable amount of time, relatively speaking, for the moisture content of wood to change. Air-drying a cut piece of stock to a usable moisture content requires one year of drying time for each inch of the stock's smallest dimension. A one inch plank should air-dry for a year before being considered sufficiently stable for it to be suitable for fitting. Even at the small dimensions encountered in modeling, increasing the moisture content of a small piece of wood throughout its entire thickness will take a surprising amount of time. Here again, the "bundle of straws stuck together in wax" analogy applies. There's not much, if any, benefit to getting just the outer surface of piece wet because the moisture isn't going to penetrate the whole piece unless it's soaked for a good bit of time. Applying the "year of air drying for each inch of thickness" to a 1/32" model plank, equals about eleven and a half days for that model plank to reach equilibrium with the ambient humidity, so the small amount of temperature reduction advantage gained by increased moisture content really isn't worth the trouble, since increasing the heat is so easily accomplished. On the other hand, using "green wood" in full size steaming jobs is advantageous because the higher moisture content makes thorough heating of the piece much more efficient owing to the more efficient transfer of heat through the wood with greater moisture content.
 
(Full disclosure disclaimer: "I'm not really a dendrologist, I just play one on the internet.  )

Channel bends is an alternate name for the channel wale planks.

Steam Temperature:  Water at standard atmospheric pressure boils at 212F (100C).  If you live at a high elevation like Denver, Colorado the boiling point is less.  There are two ways to increase steam temperature both used in power plants but impractical for ship model builders:
 
Increase the pressure at which the water boils.  That’s how a pressure cooker works.
 
Heat the steam after leaving the pot that it boils in.  This is called superheating.  
 
That’s it, you can’t fool Mother Nature.
 
Steam coming out of a pot of boiling water contains more heat energy per unit mass than the steam water mix still in the pot but the temperature of the boiling water in the pot and the steam coming out of it are the same.  Heat transfer is driven by temperature difference, and conductivity.  Water has better conductivity than steam.  A small piece of wood in a pot of boiling water will heat faster than one held in a jet of steam.
 
Roger
 
 

Somebody's selling an extremely rare complete cased set of Keuffel and Esser "Copenhagen" ship's curves on eBay. (Not me. I've no dog in the fight. I already have a set.) I thought some MSW forumites might be interested in seeing what a set looks like.
 
Similar to "French curves," these "mathematically shaped" curves are used in the same manner as "French curves" by naval architects to draw fair curves when drawing ships' lines. Sometimes called "Copenhagen curves," when used in conjunction with one another to join points laid out on the drafting board, they will permit drawing a fair curve of any shape whatsoever.  Dealt a death blow by CAD, like a lot of essential manual drafting instruments, they are no longer made and are unobtainable on the retail market. The perfect gift for the scratch-builder who has (almost) everything! A steal at a "buy it now" price of only $600! (Insert "sarcasm" emoji here.)  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-56-Keuffel-Esser-Co-1864-Ship-French-Drafting-Curves-With-Box/183690539257?hash=item2ac4cf30f9:g:9tcAAOSwGFZcae~q
 
Thirty-one "watchers" and nobody's bought it yet. It'll be interesting to see what it ultimately brings when the seller wises up (or gets lucky.) It's worth watching (click on the "watch" feature to track it) to see what happens. I'd have guessed it would have been priced between two and three hundred, at most. The collectors can get crazy sometimes, though. I didn't pay anywhere near that for my used set, but that was years ago before manual drafting instruments became hard to find and highly collectible. There was a brief moment in time right after everybody went over to CAD and had no interest in manual instruments when even the finest manual instruments in mint condition could be bought for peanuts. Like vinyl records, the advantages of manual instruments have been rediscovered and are now highly prized by collectors and users alike.
 
 
 

Defying all attempts to dispel it, the myth that hot water or steam is required to bend wood in modeling sizes refuses to die. As Jaager explained, it is heat that softens the lignin and allows the bending. In full-sized construction, wood is steamed in a steam box because, given traditional technology, steam is a good way to transmit heat to the piece to be heated. Moisture has no effect on the process of "steam bending," which should  properly be called "heat bending," I suppose. It is beyond me why, in this day and age, modelers are still trying to soak wood in water in order to bend it! Do it however one wishes. It's your model, as the saying goes, but there's simply no point to it.
 
Very simply, here's how bending wood works: Think of a bundle of long straws stuck together with wax. The bundle is hard to bend. If you melt the wax holding the straws together all the way through the bundle, the bundle is easy to bend because the individual straws can slide against each other to accommodate the differing radii inside and outside the curve created by the bend. If you melt the wax, bend the bundle of straws, and then hold them in place so that the wax hardens again, the bend stays in place and the bundle has the new curved shape you've given it. Now, you could melt the wax by throwing the bundle in a pot of boiling water or you could simply blow hot air on it from a hair dryer or heat gun, or apply heat from contact with a soldering iron or clothes iron, or by even putting it in a microwave. The choice is yours, I suppose, but there's an awful lot of bandwidth being consumed by discussions about the problems people have trying to bend wood with hot water or steam. It would be a kindness to put them out of their misery once and for all, but I suppose that's not to be.
 
Read Chuck Passaro's excellent planking tutorials and learn how to do it correctly. You'll be glad you did! They are the best tutorial on planking ever done.  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/

In think that you should pay attention to what you write.
 
To believe that the micro bevel will save you time in sharpening is false, in fact it is the opposite.
To believe that the micro bevel will make your edge last longer is also false; with or without, it will last the same time.
Leather is not made for sharpening, leather and compound are made for 2 things:polishing  and removing the burrs.
Sharpening can be easy not because of the steel used but mostly because of the stone type you will use. Water sones are the best, some are very fast and others are slow.

Defying all attempts to dispel it, the myth that hot water or steam is required to bend wood in modeling sizes refuses to die. As Jaager explained, it is heat that softens the lignin and allows the bending. In full-sized construction, wood is steamed in a steam box because, given traditional technology, steam is a good way to transmit heat to the piece to be heated. Moisture has no effect on the process of "steam bending," which should  properly be called "heat bending," I suppose. It is beyond me why, in this day and age, modelers are still trying to soak wood in water in order to bend it! Do it however one wishes. It's your model, as the saying goes, but there's simply no point to it.
 
Very simply, here's how bending wood works: Think of a bundle of long straws stuck together with wax. The bundle is hard to bend. If you melt the wax holding the straws together all the way through the bundle, the bundle is easy to bend because the individual straws can slide against each other to accommodate the differing radii inside and outside the curve created by the bend. If you melt the wax, bend the bundle of straws, and then hold them in place so that the wax hardens again, the bend stays in place and the bundle has the new curved shape you've given it. Now, you could melt the wax by throwing the bundle in a pot of boiling water or you could simply blow hot air on it from a hair dryer or heat gun, or apply heat from contact with a soldering iron or clothes iron, or by even putting it in a microwave. The choice is yours, I suppose, but there's an awful lot of bandwidth being consumed by discussions about the problems people have trying to bend wood with hot water or steam. It would be a kindness to put them out of their misery once and for all, but I suppose that's not to be.
 
Read Chuck Passaro's excellent planking tutorials and learn how to do it correctly. You'll be glad you did! They are the best tutorial on planking ever done.  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/

Defying all attempts to dispel it, the myth that hot water or steam is required to bend wood in modeling sizes refuses to die. As Jaager explained, it is heat that softens the lignin and allows the bending. In full-sized construction, wood is steamed in a steam box because, given traditional technology, steam is a good way to transmit heat to the piece to be heated. Moisture has no effect on the process of "steam bending," which should  properly be called "heat bending," I suppose. It is beyond me why, in this day and age, modelers are still trying to soak wood in water in order to bend it! Do it however one wishes. It's your model, as the saying goes, but there's simply no point to it.
 
Very simply, here's how bending wood works: Think of a bundle of long straws stuck together with wax. The bundle is hard to bend. If you melt the wax holding the straws together all the way through the bundle, the bundle is easy to bend because the individual straws can slide against each other to accommodate the differing radii inside and outside the curve created by the bend. If you melt the wax, bend the bundle of straws, and then hold them in place so that the wax hardens again, the bend stays in place and the bundle has the new curved shape you've given it. Now, you could melt the wax by throwing the bundle in a pot of boiling water or you could simply blow hot air on it from a hair dryer or heat gun, or apply heat from contact with a soldering iron or clothes iron, or by even putting it in a microwave. The choice is yours, I suppose, but there's an awful lot of bandwidth being consumed by discussions about the problems people have trying to bend wood with hot water or steam. It would be a kindness to put them out of their misery once and for all, but I suppose that's not to be.
 
Read Chuck Passaro's excellent planking tutorials and learn how to do it correctly. You'll be glad you did! They are the best tutorial on planking ever done.  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/

Defying all attempts to dispel it, the myth that hot water or steam is required to bend wood in modeling sizes refuses to die. As Jaager explained, it is heat that softens the lignin and allows the bending. In full-sized construction, wood is steamed in a steam box because, given traditional technology, steam is a good way to transmit heat to the piece to be heated. Moisture has no effect on the process of "steam bending," which should  properly be called "heat bending," I suppose. It is beyond me why, in this day and age, modelers are still trying to soak wood in water in order to bend it! Do it however one wishes. It's your model, as the saying goes, but there's simply no point to it.
 
Very simply, here's how bending wood works: Think of a bundle of long straws stuck together with wax. The bundle is hard to bend. If you melt the wax holding the straws together all the way through the bundle, the bundle is easy to bend because the individual straws can slide against each other to accommodate the differing radii inside and outside the curve created by the bend. If you melt the wax, bend the bundle of straws, and then hold them in place so that the wax hardens again, the bend stays in place and the bundle has the new curved shape you've given it. Now, you could melt the wax by throwing the bundle in a pot of boiling water or you could simply blow hot air on it from a hair dryer or heat gun, or apply heat from contact with a soldering iron or clothes iron, or by even putting it in a microwave. The choice is yours, I suppose, but there's an awful lot of bandwidth being consumed by discussions about the problems people have trying to bend wood with hot water or steam. It would be a kindness to put them out of their misery once and for all, but I suppose that's not to be.
 
Read Chuck Passaro's excellent planking tutorials and learn how to do it correctly. You'll be glad you did! They are the best tutorial on planking ever done.  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/

Simply amazing! Are you talking about a radio-controlled galley? (Maybe even with a speaker for the sound effects of the cadence drummer and lashing whips?) How cool is that, or what?
 
 

Absolutely! The "green stuff" really does the trick better than anything else. 
 
If one takes a piece of 3/4" MDF, cuts a disk to fit on their bench grinder, and charges the edge with polishing compound, those 200 passes on each side can be replaced by ten or twenty seconds on the edge of the spinning MDF disk. No need for leather on the disk. The smooth edge of the MDF disk with the polishing compound is fine. 
 
If one wishes to get fancy and has money to spare, there are also many different store-bought options, such as ready-made leather or cardboard stropping disks for bench grinders and leather stropping belts for stationary belt sanders. YouTube is full of videos on making your own stropping disks for mounting on bench grinders, wood turning lathes, or drill motors. 

I agree with Bob on Chuck's method.  Not messy.  No fussing.   I dip the plank for a few seconds in water (improve heat conduction) and then clamp it to board in shape I need.  About 30 seconds or maybe a minute with a heat gun and the water is gone.  Let it cool still clamped and the plank is ready to be installed. 

Defying all attempts to dispel it, the myth that hot water or steam is required to bend wood in modeling sizes refuses to die. As Jaager explained, it is heat that softens the lignin and allows the bending. In full-sized construction, wood is steamed in a steam box because, given traditional technology, steam is a good way to transmit heat to the piece to be heated. Moisture has no effect on the process of "steam bending," which should  properly be called "heat bending," I suppose. It is beyond me why, in this day and age, modelers are still trying to soak wood in water in order to bend it! Do it however one wishes. It's your model, as the saying goes, but there's simply no point to it.
 
Very simply, here's how bending wood works: Think of a bundle of long straws stuck together with wax. The bundle is hard to bend. If you melt the wax holding the straws together all the way through the bundle, the bundle is easy to bend because the individual straws can slide against each other to accommodate the differing radii inside and outside the curve created by the bend. If you melt the wax, bend the bundle of straws, and then hold them in place so that the wax hardens again, the bend stays in place and the bundle has the new curved shape you've given it. Now, you could melt the wax by throwing the bundle in a pot of boiling water or you could simply blow hot air on it from a hair dryer or heat gun, or apply heat from contact with a soldering iron or clothes iron, or by even putting it in a microwave. The choice is yours, I suppose, but there's an awful lot of bandwidth being consumed by discussions about the problems people have trying to bend wood with hot water or steam. It would be a kindness to put them out of their misery once and for all, but I suppose that's not to be.
 
Read Chuck Passaro's excellent planking tutorials and learn how to do it correctly. You'll be glad you did! They are the best tutorial on planking ever done.  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/