Steaming capstrips

[Xavier]

As I'm now preparing my first ribs, I went into the process of steaming my capstrip as explained in the "EAA Aircraft Building Techniques : Wood" (mainly the 5/8" ones and the forward part of every capstrip where it has to join the nose block); As a matter of fact I had noticed that without steaming there was a very substancial effort needed to get the capstrip bentaround the front spar noticeably in order to fit into the nose block's notch, and I thought it was a great idea to relieve most of the stress there. However, and here is my question, isn't this stress part of the rib's stiffness ? In that case I'm just weakening my ribs by doing this...

 

[Beej]

 

[Xavier]

 

[Flybipe]

 

[Marl]

 

[Xavier]

 

[Randy]

 

[Xavier]