Cheap Side bend

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I had another crazy idea. Lets say a luthier wanted to bend sides on a tighter budget than most. Is it a viable option to heat up water, put the wood in it, bend the wood around a form, and then bake it while clamped tp the form? Or is that unrealistic or doesnt work?
 
I've seen some slight bends done that way. search for Strum Stick building videos on youtube.
But its not a good method. Wood really doesn't bend well until 230-250F so boiling water isn't hot enough. You might be able to get the lower bought bent but probably not the waist or upper bought.
 
If the wood was very thin it might work if you had the water up to boiling temp. Still don't think it would be very successful though. And some wood species don't bend very well at all with lot's of moisture. Causes all kinds of other problems.
 
But I am saying to clamp it to the form. I know it wont hold there, ive tried it. But then put it in the oven and bake it.
 
I can't comment on your suggestion, but I have successfully bent sides using a domestic steam iron. Damp cloth above and below the wood, then use the steam iron to get it stinking hot. Quickly clamp it into the former and wait for it to cool and dry.

I don't recommend this - I never managed to do it without burning myself.
 
I'm on my first build so I'm far from knowledgeable but I built a bender from steel pipe and a heat gun like http://poorfolkbows.com/violin3.htm
and it worked pretty good at minimal cost. The heat gun is also good for undoing things glued in the wrong place!
 
Fair enough. And as an aside, I went ahead and tried it - if you can manage to bend the wood into place without cracking it, the oven heats it super well so there is like no spring back
 
Its called cold molding and is common in the violin world. Dave Gill cold molds all of his ukes. He doesn't bake them but lets them sit in a mold with air blowing over them until they dry. Very minimal spring back. I'd guess he's built 200+ ukes in this manner.
 
The propane torch method means you bend Martin style. I can't do it - I have to have the iron vertical so I can better see the work as I visualise the shape and where on the iron I am going to solid or air-bend. There is much more to this hand process than meets the eye...
 
Its called cold molding and is common in the violin world. Dave Gill cold molds all of his ukes. He doesn't bake them but lets them sit in a mold with air blowing over them until they dry. Very minimal spring back. I'd guess he's built 200+ ukes in this manner.

It exists but it's hardly common. Violin ribs are pretty thin though, at near 1.1 - 1.2 mm's.
I have cold bent quite a few items. It's actually quite time consuming because you have to spritz the wood, partially clamp it and then allow the fibres of the wood to relax. You keep doing that until you have your final shape. Cracking isn't unknown.
I can (and have been known to) bend a side on a hot iron in 5 minutes. Far, far quicker than any cold bending.
 
Here's my cheapie iron. About $25 for the heat gun, pipe, flange, misc. I made this just to try hand bending but it worked so well that I never upgraded it.
I used to use forms and heat blankets with reasonable success. This is better
 

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Here's my cheapie iron. About $25 for the heat gun, pipe, flange, misc. I made this just to try hand bending but it worked so well that I never upgraded it.
I used to use forms and heat blankets with reasonable success. This is better


any sort of baffle inside or just a straight shot? Does hot air exit through wood block?

TIA
 
Its called cold molding and is common in the violin world. Dave Gill cold molds all of his ukes. He doesn't bake them but lets them sit in a mold with air blowing over them until they dry. Very minimal spring back. I'd guess he's built 200+ ukes in this manner.

Dave Gjessing at Waverly Street Ukes shows his similar method for cold bending in detail.
http://www.wsukes.com/bendingsides.html
 
Most muffler shops will give away a short scrap of the size pipe that accommodates a 100W lightbulb. Couldn't be cheaper than that, and works pretty well.
 
any sort of baffle inside or just a straight shot? Does hot air exit through wood block?

TIA

Its a straight shot through. There's a hole in the wood to let the hot air out. Its fine for the smaller uke size pipe. When I use my larger dia guitar size pipe I put a wad of tin foil in the end to make it heat up faster
 
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