Bob Cleek

Hi there,
 
A normal hair drier or variable temperature hot air gun will do the job perfectly well. No need for hot water at all.
 
Dave.

From the point of view of a home sawyer and saw miller, much time is involved in getting water out of wood and getting it equilibrate with atmospheric water concentration.  Soaking a plank is undoing all that, if you even could get water deep into the interior.  The natural glue that holds wood fiber together is not soluble in water in any case.  It is heat that loosens the bond enough to allow the fibers to slide as individuals and then rebond when the heat as dissipated,  Steam is more efficient than air at heat transfer. The hotter the steam the faster is the transfer.  Liquid water does not exceed 100 degrees.  It is probably a bad thing to actually cook the wood.
 
There are more than a few threads here concerning the various methods and devices used to bend planking.
 

The sails are simply spectacular!
 

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. 

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

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 recently read where some carvers are now using thin cardboard (cereal Box) charged with compound and backed by a hard surface as a strop.  

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Surely, you jest! You must be a young man.   Seriously, though, they are excellent videos. It's not rocket science and he keeps it simple. It's amazing how much ink and pixels have been consumed on the subject of sharpening edge tools in recent times. IMHO, this seems to be the consequence of our educational system's abandonment of manual arts training as part of the core curriculum in middle and high schools. Mention "wood shop" or "metal shop" these days and the kids give you a blank stare. Time was, learning to sharpen an edge was a skill every boy learned by age eight or ten and no more remarkable than learning to tie their shoes. To make matters worse, today's parents are so overprotective, a ten year old is lucky to have had much of any real experience at all with an edged tool, let alone been taught to care for it. I casually gave my ten year old grandson one of those tiny Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knives with a two inch blade that are made to put on a key chain and his mother went apoplectic, taking it from him and saying, "We'll have to use this under strict supervision!"  Sheesh!  (I should have known better... My giving him a store-bought Daisy sling shot and a bag of dried beans for ammo precipitated a family crisis a few months previously.) I suppose he'll probably join the rest of his generation and buy cheap knives which he'll throw away when they dull, unless, of course, I can instill in him enough appreciation for working with his hands and he acquires the need to learn how to sharpen a blade on a stone from some old YouTube video!

Derek,  Thank you very much for posting the videos.  I learned more about sharpening chisels in 30 minutes than I had ever learned before in all my years.   
Allan

The 1950's era Craftsman 8" table saw is a better "old 'arn" option. They don't make 'em like they used to. The 8" saw is a fixed table with a tilting arbor. The smaller "Companion" tilt-table model was originally their "second best" line below Craftsman. The tilting table gives many concern regarding safety of operation. 

The 1950's era Craftsman 8" table saw is a better "old 'arn" option. They don't make 'em like they used to. The 8" saw is a fixed table with a tilting arbor. The smaller "Companion" tilt-table model was originally their "second best" line below Craftsman. The tilting table gives many concern regarding safety of operation. 

It looks very similar to iroko which can have the white streaks in it, if you take a plane shaving of and its lighter in colour ,then could well be Iroko, as it darkens on the surface in light, regards Phil

The 1950's era Craftsman 8" table saw is a better "old 'arn" option. They don't make 'em like they used to. The 8" saw is a fixed table with a tilting arbor. The smaller "Companion" tilt-table model was originally their "second best" line below Craftsman. The tilting table gives many concern regarding safety of operation. 

The photo below shows wood species from my wood pile.  From the top of the photo down: Holly, Lilac, Buckthorn.  
 
Relative Hardnesses:  Basswood. 410
                                      Buckthorn.  1040
                                     Hard Maple. 1450
                                     Lilac.   2350
 

 
Both Lilac and Buckthorn have tight, fine, and unabtrusive  grain structures.  According to the Wooddatabase both can be us d for small carvings.  When cut and planed both had a polished surface.   Lilac could be used for carvings and turnings.  Buckthorn in larger sizes could be used for POF structural members.
 
The small clump trees in the next photo are Buckthorn growing on the edge of my yard.
 

 
I have some experience with Chestnut.  In 1960 my parents had a pile of wormy Chestnut lumber milled into tongue and groove paneling.  It was quite soft, had a very pronounced grain structure, not unlike Oak, except that it has very dark bands between adjacent grain sections.  It made a nice backboard for a half model but I would consider it to be unsuitable for other ship modeling uses.
 
Roger
 
 

That was back before they had to put a sticker on it that said " Don't use this in the bath tub..

The sails are simply spectacular!
 

Just to perhaps encourage those who are discouraged by the availability of the "perfect" modeling wood, may I suggest that there really are few candidates for that prize, and correspondingly hard to find and expensive. Below are some woods I'd nominate as candidates for modeling purposes. Some are primarily carving wood species good for carving and turning. Others perhaps more suitable for planking stock and larger parts. All are woods I've come across, often in abundance, in dumps and municipal woodpiles and free for the taking. Some are native California species, while others are invasive exotics, agricultural species, or ornamentals. Few are commercially available, usually because they are not large trees and because there is little market for them. A modeler with the resources to snag a few pieces, or more, should find some of them quite interesting to play with. Wood that has no visible grain is something of a "unicorn," but it must be remembered that there is in many species a wide variation in their color and figuring. As color and figuring is highly desired by furniture makers, the un--figured and lighter colored specimens are often much less expensive when available in a retail environment, while also often much more available in "the wild," as milling the plain specimens isn't as profitable as is milling highly figured stock. While it seems that building models of bright (natural finish) wood is greatly in vogue these days, it bears noting that when one isn't constrained by color-matching featureless bright wood, painting opens up many wood species which are as well-suited for modeling as any, save their natural appearance. 
 
It really costs nothing to experiment. Most city corporation yards will permit "picking" by turners and woodworkers, or even simply by those looking for firewood. There's always the big bay laurel than came down across a road in the last winter storm and the road crew bucked up to clear the road, or street ornamentals that were pruned or removed for one reason or another. Making friends with your local tree service is worthwhile. You never know when somebody decides to cut down that old holly tree in their backyard or to remove a dead birch tree.
 
Common Name(s): Myrtle, Oregon Myrtle, California Bay Laurel, Pepperwood
Scientific Name: Umbellularia californica
Distribution: Coastal regions of southwest Oregon and central California
 
Note: Quite large old specimens found commonly on creek banks. Windfalls are common.
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/myrtle/
 
 
Common Name(s): Olive
Scientific Name: Olea spp. (Olea europaea, O. capensis)
Distribution: Europe and eastern Africa
 
Note: Olive trees are more valued for their fruit than for their wood, so it's rare to find for sale. Wood is available from orchard culls and removed ornamentals.
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/olive/
 
Common Name(s): Sweetgum, Redgum, Sapgum, satin walnut
Scientific Name: Liquidambar styraciflua
Distribution: Southeastern United States
 
Note: Photo below is of heartwood. Wide sapwood is near-"white," through butterscotch color, similar to pear wood without significant figuring and sold as "satin walnut." Photo below is of heartwood, sometimes marketed as "redgum."
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/sweetgum/
 
Common Name(s): Paper Birch
Scientific Name: Betula papyrifera
Distribution: Northern and central North America
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/paper-birch/
 
 
Common Name(s): Persimmon, White Ebony
Scientific Name: Diospyros virginiana
Distribution: Eastern United States
 
(Note: Related to true ebony. This is a carving wood, used to make golf driver club heads.)
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/persimmon/
 
 
Ligustrum lucidum
Photo courtesy UC Davis Weeds of California Synonyms: Esquirolia sinensis; Ligustrum compactum var. latifolium; Ligustrum esquirolii
Common names: glossy privet; broad-leaved privet; tree privet
Ligustrum lucidum (glossy privet) is a shrub/tree (family Oleaceae) with white flowers and shiny oval-shaped leaves found in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento Valley, coastal ranges and southwestern ranges of California. It is native to China, Japan and Korea. Fast growing, but not large diameter trunks. Similar to boxwood. Listed as an invasive ornamental species. (Leaves and berries are poisonous.)
 

 
https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/profile/ligustrum-lucidum-profile/
 
Common Name(s): Pistachio
Scientific Name: Pistacia vera
Distribution: Native to Iran, also cultivated in the 
Mediterranean and Middle East regions, and California
 
Note: Nuts more valuable than fruit. Available as windfall, culls, and prunings from commercial orchards. Suitable for carving and turning small pieces.
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/pistachio/
 
Common Name(s): Holly, American Holly
Scientific Name: Ilex opaca
Distribution: Eastern United States
 

 
https://www.wood-database.com/holly/
 
 
 
 
 

Fantastic work, Doris.  Certainly the best model sails I have seen.
 
Ed

One caveat here... In US, many times the planks were a lot longer as the wood supply was closer to the yards.  In France, the wood was moved to the yard by river so again.. many times the planks are longer than the English.