So I actually posted too soon. The side that I bent yesterday has a big ol crack at the waist. I didn't see it because it was inside the bending machine and I hadn't removed the side from the machine when I posted yesterday. So. It was either too thick, the wood had not become hot enough or there was insufficient moisture/steam. I'm open to hearing some thoughts on why this happened. I'll probably have to take a step back here and do some practice on some cheep wood given the fact that I just ruined the sides I was going to use on the guitar I'm building. Should have practiced on other wood first. I'm leaning toward thinking it was probably all of the above. So next time, I'll use the metal flashing I bought, thickness the wood down a bit further, and let it cook for a little longer before I start bending, unless anyone has any better suggestions.

Learning. It can be painful sometimes. Better a relatively cheap piece of white oak than some expensive rosewood or something though I suppose. That's the silver lining, right?

Definitely thinner. .080" is good. About half the stiffness of .100", by cube rule.

Yup. .1" was way too thick. It probably weighs a lot too. You could probably save it if it's a clean crack with no loose fibers though. CA glue can work wonders.

I was where you are. My first build was mahogany and it sprung back and "cupped" even after I put it in the mold. I fussed with it and **** near split it halfway to the waist.

As for "ruining" rosewood, well my second is EIR and I'm at this point too. Rosewood has been a dream to work with in comparison. It almost WANTS to bend. Also, a key crack on one of my rosewood factory guitars has shown me that it patches up pretty easily too.

So don't be discouraged. You just chose a tough wood to work with. Like I said, you could probably patch that side and nobody but you would be able to tell.

Thicknessed the latest effort to .085, and it did in fact work. Thanks. :)

Thanks for the encouragement. :)

I don't think this crack is fixable... This was the result after fidling with it for a moment...

I think it's done. lol
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...710_191246.jpg

The lights are on...
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...710_191306.jpg

The wood is home.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...710_195707.jpg

And it did in fact successfully bend this time. No cracking at the waste. I made another mistake with this one, though it doesn't much matter at this point. I need to resaw more wood to have a matching side set anyway. I bent the other side to see if I could do it right. It bent perfectly this time, thicknessed to .085, bent with the metal flashing, and I didn't let the wood sit as long before bending this time. I had read somewhere that the amount of time the wood sits in the heat makes a difference. If you wait too long, it might cause it to crack.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...711_141143.jpg

The bend this time though revealed a weakness in my bending machine. A couple of the J hooks I attach the eye bolts to tore through their respective holes. And, I did not correctly mark the waste, and so the side was too long at the top and about an eighth to short on the lower bout. I could probably still use it as is, as an end wedge will cut that material away. But it won't matter given I have to resaw and re-thickness new sides anyway.