What are the dimensions of the seat tack strip for a '14 touring and what wood bends the best when steam bending?
I got the new non wood tack strip from Ford Wood and it worked great. It bends with a bit of heat and holds tacks, staples and screws just like wood.
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Kiln dried and soft grain woods should be avoided. Recommended are white & red oak and ash. If you just want to try it fine go ahead but Val's suggestion sounds like a good one if you're not already set up for bending.
I used green hickory; steamed it in a long pipe and it worked great.
I ripped my tack strip out of a piece of PVC molding bought at Home Depot. Worked wonderfully, easy to bend with a heat gun, held tacks well and CHEAP !
What more could you want?
This not a vote against the PVC stuff and I have a deck made with AZEK and I really like the stuff but to answer the question, the easiest wood of all to steam bend is white oak. That is why Ford drawings call for it on their top bows drawings and why you also will find it used in the T era to hold glass windows in place on the 1912 Delivery Car since those were elliptical windows and the glass was held by a steam bent white oak trim ring that is bent the shape of the window glass edge perimeter. On most charts that rate woods for the ease of steam bending, white oak generally is at the top. Hard Maple is one of the more difficult woods to steam bend but a lot of the raring of "easy" or "difficult" has to do with the final radius you are attempting to achieve.