In my mind, there are three classifications of woodworking
techniques. There are many that I classify as “useful,” a
smaller number that I think of as “indispensable,” and then a
very few that represent a true breakthrough in woodworking
technology. Bending wood is one of the latter. The ability to
alter the grain direction as our imagination dictates while
preserving the strength inherent in a straight piece of wood
allows us to create the elegant beauty of a continuous-arm
Windsor chair and the inspiring sweep of a vaulted ceiling. We
first explored our world in sailing ships with bent wood hulls,
then left it in airplanes with bent wood wings. Our world would
be much less beautiful and much less exciting without this
simple woodworking technique. I’m currently engaged in a
woodworking project designed to create a little excitement, and
bending wood is at the very heart of it. I’m part of a group of
historians and aviators who are recreating the six experimental
airplanes of the Wright brothers, beginning w