Umm, we have barrels don’t we? Wooden fluid barrels and item barrels to be precise.
I definitely see a use for bent wooden planks.
The question is, what is the early game option?
There are other ways to bend wood besides steaming it, such as simply soaking it or kerfing (cutting slits) it. Kerfing could be an expensive and tool consuming process whereas steaming is free aside from the steam production itself.
There’s also a method that uses just regular heat. In fact, just leaving (non dried) wood in the sun will warp it towards the heat source, I.E the sun. But that is an unreliable method of bending wood. Could still be cool (and again, costly) for an early game option.