This black & white educational/training film is about bending oak billets to make bent wood for proper boat construction. Its copyright is September 1949 and was made by the US Navy.

Opening titles: Nonclassified, US Navy Training Film – Bending Oak Techniques

(:08-:55). Wood is lined up. Mountains with wood, Lebanon Cedar wood. Other trees. Roots of the wood afford maximum strength. More tall trees in the woods. White Oak wood is very durable and can be bent for a boat frame. Many boatyards have this wood. A white oak tree (:56-3:17). Tree and then a pile of lumber. Huge slabs of lumber piled. Navy Department inspector requirement paperwork. Thick lumber pieces. A faulty bending technique can cause splits and breaks. Norfolk Naval Shipyard sign. Boat shop. A boat emerges from the boat shop (3:18-5:11). Bending oak is stockpiled in the yard. Lumber pieces close up. Pieces of straight lumber. Specifications of what is good lumber to be bent is explained (5:12-6:41). A moisture machine. A steamboat. Billets are steamed here. A close on the face of a clock. A bending table all set up: its a slab of cast iron checkered with square holes. Bent wood on the table. Different sides of the table. How to bend wood is shown and explained (6:42-10:02). Billet is properly steamed and removed. Face of a clock. Sheet iron is placed onto a side of the billet. Billet is put into the bending machine. More bending is explained (10:03-12:07). The wood is snug against the machine. The curve is pronounced and shown in detail. The wood is being molded to be bent. The finished billets are cured for 30-45 days in open air (12:08-12:12). Bent billet. Slight buckling piece is sawed off. All of the cured, bent wood is placed in the shape of a boat. Long pieces of lumber. How to do this process is explained in detail from phase 1. Panning shot on long pieces of lumber. Steambox. Face of a clock. Wood in the steambox. Pressure applied by a hand while bending. The wood is bent. Bent, cured wood. A finished boat. Another shown from underneath (13:13-16:35). End credits (16:36-16:46).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com