Side bending mold?

I hope this makes sense, when making a mold to bend the sides over, do you make it smaller to allow for the thickness of the wood being used for the sides, so after they are bent to shape the outer dimensions will fit inside the mold?

Thanks!
Sawdust

Yes, it does make sense, your post contains both the question, and the answer.

And if in your practice you place the heating blanket down first, I would reduce the size of the form by the thickness of the heating blanket + the wood being bent.

A little 'adjustment' (coercion) during the body mould fitting will not hurt too much. If you make enough examples of the same size/design you will soon learn what is needed to get it pretty well spot on every time.

When I make a bending form I make the outer shape holding form at the same time from the same material. I stack 4 pieces of 3/4" mdf stuck together with just a little hot glue. Saw out my half shape with the band saw. Do some touch up sanding on a spindle sander. The outside shape I glue two of the 4 pieces together for the outside form used to keep the uke square. The form pieces I'm going to use for the bender I drill 4, 3/4" inche holes through with the drill press. Holes spaced to give the best support. Then I seperate these and put 3/4" wood dowels through the holes with some glue and a shot from a finish nail gun. The space between each piece is not a concern if you use spring steel slats while bending. I find I can make a new shape in about an hour or two with this method. When I'm doing the touch up sanding of the shape I tend to take off about the thickness of the side material so that isn't a concern and just tends to work out.

Thanks for the help!

While there is no such thing as being too accurate with your work, getting bent sides to be an exact fit to the mold is something I've learned not to worry about too much. After trying every other configuration I could think of I ended up using one blanket between the two sides, plus the regular addition of wet paper and aluminum foil, then sliding the whole thick sandwich into the Fox bender. I've had no problem loading the molds of six or so sizes of guitars. I think you will find that beginners luck doesn't carry you too far, but as you gain experience you will work with more finesse almost without thinking about it. The work will be in your hands more than in your head.