The wax helps to keep the nylon from sliding and allowed for tighter lashing. I believe that baleen was the preferred lashing material of the Aleuts. Ribs were a major endeavor. Prior to starting the deck I had felled an ash tree in Vermont which I had hoped to split up into ribs which could then be steam bent. The idea of splitting ribs out of a tree was appealing because the result would be wood which followed the grain of the tree and would be unlikely to break.
Green wood is also preferable for steam bending.
I chose a tree about 7 inches in diameter which had lost it's leader about thirty feet above the ground resulting in a crooked top. I chose this tree because it would not be a great loss from my parents wood lot. I cut the tree into three foot lengths which were easily split with a splitting wedge. With a splitting wedge I was able to split the logs easily into eight pie shaped pieces. Further spitting was difficult because the split almost always broke through the side of the log rather than out the end.