Heat blanket substitute?

in a heat blanket side bender, I'm guessing that the thin sheet of metal is the actual blanket? if not, from here on it, I'm calling it the blanket

What is a good substitute for this thin sheet of metal, as I plan on bending my sides over Christmas and the new year as I'm off work, but everywhere will be closed so i wont be able to buy any

Thanks

young-lecky said:

in a heat blanket side bender, I'm guessing that the thin sheet of metal is the actual blanket? if not, from here on it, I'm calling it the blanket

What is a good substitute for this thin sheet of metal, as I plan on bending my sides over Christmas and the new year as I'm off work, but everywhere will be closed so i wont be able to buy any


Thanks

Click to expand...

First thing Young-Lecky.. Thats not a "Heat blanket" it's sheet metal...It can be any sort of thin sheet metal..Auminium, copper Brass, Steel...I made my first ones out of an old stainless kitchen pedal bin...I'm told by the experts spring steel shim stock is the best, and I'm not going to argue about that.

The heat blanket is an electrical device consisting of a heatproof mat with a Heating element inside, this is plugged into a wall socket and it get's hot...this is used in conjuntion with the spring steel slats..... Maybe a bit more research is needed.

In a pinch you could use aluminum flashing material. It works, but it doesn't offer the same support as sheet steel. I used it to cover a couple of my early bending forms, then used the leftovers for the bending process. That was a couple decades ago, but I remember that it worked OK. I also bent some uke sides with a heat blanket and no slats, just the wet wood. That also worked, but the working window is very small as the wood dries out very quickly. Not recommended. Wrapping the wet wood in foil would have helped, but I was also concerned that the procedure might be hard on the blanket. There's a reason that certain work procedures become standardized. They work with the least risk to operators and materials.

This is a good way to buy it in different thickness's.

http://www.amazon.com/Shim-In-A-Can...&qid=1387817009&sr=8-5&keywords=shim+in+a+can

also

http://www.ebay.com/itm/stainless-s...711?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eccf2e3cf

.010 spring steel for the bending slats is my preference, but the stainless is good for the form.