Bending Wood

Yesterday I made a pleasant discovery while using a hair dryer to dry one end of a slat of wood (Black Walnut) that I had soaked in boiling water and was 'tweaking' a bend into shape.
I used a hair dryer on the "hot" setting and aimed it at the wet area and bent like rubber. It was very hot and almost too hot to hold (I needed gloves) but no wood scorching at all.
I decided to try something and took a dry slat of Walnut and used only the hair dryer and slowly dry bent the 1/8" thick x 1 3/4" wide thick piece of wood into shape! It took less than 5 minutes!
I was able to bend two nice pieces into virtually identical shapes for my next dulcimer. I left them in the jig overnight just for insurance and this morning both were very much set in shape and firm.
I had read that a heat gun could do this (but not a Revlon hair dryer) but never intentionally tried it.
I think I have found a new method for bending my wood!