My new method for bending sides!

Sawdust

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I made a new system for bending sides, here's a few pics.

I steamed the wood for 25 minutes at 212 degrees, the sides were 0.090 thick, they bent like hot butter in the jig.
No warping whatsoever, to me it beat the heck out of the bending iron I was trying to use, no looking back for me, worked great.

Sorry, I didn't know why the pics are sideways, they wasn't like that in my files.

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Very good! That's a nice looking set up. I sometimes struggled with cupping across the grain with guitar sides.
What kind of wood did you bent?
 
Very good! That's a nice looking set up. I sometimes struggled with cupping across the grain with guitar sides.
What kind of wood did you bent?

The test set was cherry, these are walnut, both were flat sawn.
I was amazed how easily they bent.
 
That's nice. The only thing have questions about is the amount of water that remains in the wood. With heating blanket method you can get all the water out which allows you to quickly get to work with other aspects.
 
That's nice. The only thing have questions about is the amount of water that remains in the wood. With heating blanket method you can get all the water out which allows you to quickly get to work with other aspects.

The wood is so hot that it seems to dry out very quickly, Since you brought it up, the next set I bend I'll check the moisture with a meter before and after bending.
 
That's nice. The only thing have questions about is the amount of water that remains in the wood. With heating blanket method you can get all the water out which allows you to quickly get to work with other aspects.

I just checked the moisture with a meter, its at 5.1%, I just bent these around noon today.
 
Good stuff, Sawdust... you will not have scorching problems with that setup.
Still, I would encourage you to experiment further with your iron. If you only use it for the quick adjustment of sides, linings and bindings, it is a very useful skill to possess. Once you find the correct temperature setting, this technique becomes quite instinctive and believe it or not, most satisfying/rewarding... it just takes a bit of practice.
When making home made irons, be sure to have an internal air gap between the iron (pipe) and the heat source. This radiates the heat to the surface more evenly, and eliminates extreme differences in adjacent surface temperatures. The thinner the pipe walls, the more important this becomes.
 
Good stuff, Sawdust... you will not have scorching problems with that setup.
Still, I would encourage you to experiment further with your iron. If you only use it for the quick adjustment of sides, linings and bindings, it is a very useful skill to possess. Once you find the correct temperature setting, this technique becomes quite instinctive and believe it or not, most satisfying/rewarding... it just takes a bit of practice.
When making home made irons, be sure to have an internal air gap between the iron (pipe) and the heat source. This radiates the heat to the surface more evenly, and eliminates extreme differences in adjacent surface temperatures. The thinner the pipe walls, the more important this becomes.

Thanks, I probably will play around with the bending iron later on, I'm sure with enough practice it will come in handy.
 
Steam bending wood is a very old, tried and tested technique. Which is why it has been around so long. Good on you, take the road less travelled.
 
Not that long ago a lot of luthiers boiled their sides in giant tin baths. Don't remember anyone complaining about the results. It all works, has its pros and cons, but it works.
 
I took the sides out of the mold, there was very little spring back. I then put them in the mold that I will use to build the ukulele, they fit in side very good, I used spreaders with very little pressure to hold them tight to the sides of the mold.
 
What did you use to generate the steam?
 
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