My grandpa used to make curved porches for older houses. He would soak the wood for weeks at a time to bend them into shape without notching the back side, kinda like ship building. I think it a lost art.
I've never done much work with wood so I never knew these tricks like a lot of you guys out there. I tended to avoid it way back when I first learned that a two by four is only 1&1/2" X 3&1/2". I tried to avoid the metric system when I was in school and I sure wasn't crazy about having to cipher another measurement conversion.
Some people are experts in only one field. Some like to think of themselves as a Jack of all trades. I'm starting to think that I might be a four of all trades. - maybe a deuce when it comes to woodworking.