Softwood Bending Thickness?

ksquine

ksquine

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I'm starting a pallet build for a concert uke. I thought it would be a good item for the Yankee Swap at work this Christmas. I scored a classy pallet at work that had some nice material in it. ;)
What's a good thickness to bend softwood sides? It might be hemlock, spruce, fir or something else. Doesn't have much smell when I cut it so I don't think its pine. Is there anything different to bending softwood than the hard stuff?
 
Well, if you have a whole pallet, you have plenty to experiment with. I've done spruce and redwood sides. Did not treat either much different than my usual hardwoods. Maybe a touch thicker. Just a little under 2mm. I did experience a great deal of springbuck on both, and had to recook them twice. They eventually held, but wanted to springbuck if they were out of the mold.
 
I have done a few softwood guitars. Softwoods have a tendency to 'crinkle' on tight curves. If you have any SuperSoft II use it, if not it is cheap enough to order in the US for a small bottle. Lately I have bent the basic shape on a pipe and then placed it on a form and heated with a blanket. Left it there over night and had no spring back.
 
Yep....wrinkles in the waist. Guess I'll call that set of sides "practice" :mad:
 
I started a tenor uke out of pine. The side sprang forward after bending with a blanket, not back. I built the body, then swapped all the parts away for a set of quality classical guitar machines. I have another set of wood but lost enthusiasm for the project. I'm sure it would have made a satisfying instrument.
 
This is just a few photos of my pine uke in progress for those who care. Note how a 100w bulb lit up the back. It did that everywhere.

DSC02720.jpg DSC02723.jpg pine back6­­_18_15.jpg DSC02731.jpg pine back36_18_15.jpg
 
I used fabric softener before I started using SSII. Not as good but it does work, smells nice too. I mixed about 1/3 softener to water and let soak for a while. Then rinsed it off and bent with a blanket. Left it in the mold for the night.
 
Timbuck said:
Pallet wood makes an excellent sounding uke..in my experience.
Click to expand...

Definitely. I dunno if its pallet wood or just FREE wood in general that makes it sound so good. It certainly appeals to the cheap old Yankee in me
 
I would have though making and using a steambox would make the whole process far easier.

Steam the timber and then place it in a pre made jig.
 
Using a steam box is fine for boat timbers, for a uke there are far simpler methods and are much faster.

Col50 said:
I would have though making and using a steambox would make the whole process far easier.

Steam the timber and then place it in a pre made jig.
Click to expand...
 
Lopaka96707 said:
Why not give the pineapple ukulele a shot? Less curves to deal with I'd your worried about cracking
Click to expand...

I already have the mold for the standard shape and I've built a bunch of them before. I wanted this to be a quick simple build
But...Maybe if I find another good pallet
 
This may be a good time to make some laminated sides. There’s certainly no shame in that and plenty of high end classical guitars are made with laminated sides. Bending two or three layers of very thin softwood will certainly be easier than one thicker picece. There’s plenty of info and videos online of the process. I’ve only done it once using cedar, but it worked like a champ.
 
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