Finally after many weeks of trial and error I managed to successfully teach myself the art of steam bending oak. I want to try and make the hip ring spacer as close to the originals as possible. I ended up making it from 4 pieces of 1/4" thick strips laminated together. What a learning curve but Im glad I stuck with it.
For my steaming power I used my 1943 2 gallon petrol burner unit, 20lbs empty propane tank (full of water), some black pipe and a steam box made from 4" PVC pipe with end caps.
The form was made up for the 24" inside diameter of the ring. This let me clamp and glue the wood strips as I built it up to the proper thickness.
Here I have successfully curved and laminated two of the strips together. The ring is very strong and fit the hip ring very well.
Lastly I cut the taper on the ring to fit the slope of the roof.
Now it is just drilling all 16 holes and figuring out the lengths of all countersunk screws. I am extremely pleased about how well it ended up working. My plan is to paint on a few coats of POR letting it soak into the wood. This should seal the wood for life.