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These planks are very wide -- wider then 35 cm, and their bending was an enormous problem. They were to be twisted almost to 90^o along approx. 4 meters. In smaller boats with narrower and thinner strakes this is achieved comparatively easily, so I deemed in worst case I can reduce the shnjaka's strakes to ~20mm , slightly thicker then in small boat, and bend them just as easily. But it appeared that major obstacle to a twist is the plank's width, and not thickness -- inner tensions grow as the square of the width. Only 5th attempt was more or less successful, 4 planks cracked and were waisted. An impressing steaming technique has been developed, planks were heated between two long fires -- all this took more then one month. Later I found some information to the effect that first strakes in Pomor shnjakas were not bent, but axe-carved into the necessary shape out of chosen spiral-grained trunks.