I want to use maple for the body binding, and test pieces have been hard to bend. What is the best grain orientation when I cut the bindings? I am ripping them from a board that is flat sawn, so given that the grain needs to be longitudinal but I can do it quartersawn (short grain perpendicular to the flat side of the binding strip) or flat sawn (long grain parallel to the flat side of the binding strip). I am planning 5/16" wide and .080" thick, is that a good choice? On-line advice seems to be to bend dry, or misted, and cold. Is that correct?
Thanks, Brian