First Time Bending Blues

[KM333]

Hello!

First time builder. Just joined & have a long one...

Bought an Electric Free-Form Bending Iron from LMI. My laser heat gun says it only goes to 200 degrees F. Sent it back to LMI; they said it goes to 375 in 15 minutes!?!

Let it heat up for at least 30 minutes. Tried it with practice sides (mahogany?) Took me about an hour to bend 1 side & it burnt badly...

Watched lots of youtube etc. They all talk about how you can feel when the wood is ready to bend; never felt any give, just applied pressure.

Am freaking out! Help & Thanks!

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by KM333

bend 1 side & it burnt badly...

Clearly, it gets hotter than 200 degrees.

Watched lots of youtube etc. They all talk about how you can feel when the wood is ready to bend; never felt any give, just applied pressure.

What kind of wood, how thick? Did you wet the surface of the wood?

Bending sides over a hot pipe is a developed skill. It takes having the variables right and some practice. When you have those things right, it isn't difficult, but there is more to it than simply watching a few videos.

[Rodger Knox]

I'd guess your side was too thick. The thinner it is, the easier it will bend. Mahogany should bend pretty easily at 0.070", and be very difficult at 0.100".
The amount of water is also important, and that takes a little experience. Some wood bends best almost dry, others almost need to be soaked, but the wetter it is the more likely you are to have cupping or rippling.

[SnowManSnow]

I can say from a LITTLE noob experience that the pros make it look WAY easier than it is


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[mirwa]

Sorry to say this, but this is one of those experience things, you tube can be good and really really bad.

However bending sides is actually a skill, did you buy some practice sides.

I always teach people on guitar building courses to bend sides first using an iron (practice sides), so they can learn the feel of the wood as the lignin goes soft, then we actually use a heat blanket and do there side set.

Steve

[Ned Milburn]

Some people just get it easily and naturally, while others need more practice. But we can all "get it".

I now flex the wood and put the flexed wood to the iron, rather than pressing the wood onto the iron and flexing it by pushing against the iron.

There is a balance needed between holding in one spot long enough to heat it to bendable temp, and moving quickly enough to avoid burns. Temp can be slightly adjusted for different woods as necessary. I try to always keep the wood in motion, but at a very low speed for tight curves.

[Howard Klepper]

What you describe is typical of your wood being too thick.

If you don't have an accurate way to measure it, you are not ready to bend it. If you bent a guitar side as you got it from a wood supplier, it's alsmost certain that it was way too thick. Guitar sides are not supplied ready to bend; the suppliers assume you will thin it.

And the kind of wood matters, as others have said.

Also, if you left the iron on high for 30 minutes, it was too hot.

And, as others have said, this is a skill. As in it takes practice.

[dekutree64]

Mahogany is not an easy bending wood. If you leave it thick, then you can't bend very tight curves. But if you make it thin, it ripples across the grain.

One of the tricks for stubborn wood is to put a wet paper towel on the pipe so it steams the wood as you heat it. But probably not a good idea for mahogany due to the rippling problem.

Heat the wood by rolling back and forth on the pipe before you apply pressure, so it bends evenly. If you apply pressure right from the start, then if one spot hits the critical temperature first, it will start to bend, and possibly cause the cooler spots to cup away from the pipe, which then prevents them from ever getting hot enough to bend properly.

If you do start getting cupping/ripples, use a wood block to mash the side flat against the pipe so those cupped spots get heated and will take the bend.

Some woods just don't want to bend. Malaysian blackwood is the worst I've done battle with. It preferred the wet paper towel, but still wouldn't respond for the most part, despite being very thin. I eventually got the shape reasonably close to the pattern, but with major rippling, a long crack, and a couple of small cross grain blowouts that had to be filled with epoxy. I did get strings on the guitar, but think I'll redo it, since the back cracked all up in the winter, and sides got a couple more cracks too, on top of the already ugly ripples. I'll use African blackwood this time, since it's much more stable with humidity changes, and should bend reasonably easily due to the high resin content.

[Telecastermusic]

I received my new bending iron the other day and decided to give it a go. First time bending. Used sapele, 2mm thick for uke build. Soaked the sides for a good while, iron hot and away I went. Careful to apply even pressure and slowly moving the wood not easy. Started at the waist. Took forever. Still managed to have small splits in the timber. Any advice? I know I just need to keep practicing!!