My attempt at bending wood

I decided to try bending wood.  So, I got a piece of maple.  It is a 1 by 2, so it is 3/4 inch by 1 1/12 inch.  I cut a piece about 10 inches or so.  Then I soaked it in water for a week. 

 

Then I built my form.  I want to bend it into a good shape for spoons.  Here is my set up (ignore the bent piece of wood at the top for now).  

 

That is just three pieces of plywood cut to shape and screwed together.  There are 4 screws on the other side.

After the wood soaked for a week, I microwaved it for 2 1/2 minutes.  Then I clamped it on to the form.  It is fun watching a piece of maple bend.

I left it to cool and dry for a week.  Here is the result:

The top two photos show the cracking on the back of the bend.  I don't know what to do to prevent that.  The wood was very waterlogged and very hot, so it has to be a problem with the wood just being too thick.  The good news is that the cracking only extends down less than a 1/4 inch, so I could still use the piece for a spoon.  I think.

The bottom photo shows the crack at the top of the piece.  This happened because I didn't have a piece of wood between the clamp on the top and the wood.  If I did, it would prevent that crack and the circular impression from the clamp that you can see in the second photo of the post.

So, I will definitely try this again.  Next time I will put some scrap wood between the wood and the clamps to prevent marking and to distribute the pressure more evenly.  And when I do, I will post photos of it here.