Hi Shawn;

I ended up going straight dry heat, although I tried most of the other combinations as well.

What I ended up doing was building a simple jig on my work bench bench to temporarily clamp/support the strip. I would then apply the bending and twisting forces by clipping spring clamps used as weights along the strip as needed - It would only take a minute to set up.

Then I'd heat the strip with the heat gun and it would start bending and twisting (like magic ), following the placement of weights. I could selectively heat one portion of the strip more or less than the rest, if it needed more bend or twist there.

When it looked close to the twist & bend needed, I'd let it cool for a few minutes, and it would then stay in that shape. 90% of the time the first try enabled me to comfortably fit the strip to get it glued.

Soaking or steaming it first made it even more flexible than heat alone, but I found it unnecessary - Wood strips get quite flexible when heated, and when they cool, they retain that shape with no tendency to warp back.

Hope I explained it clearly, Spidey