Thread: Suggestions for Timber Bending Iron

Originally Posted by mandoman

Like most things, practice makes perfect.

True...but electricity helps too

hey Mandoman,

I picked up my 2 pieces of steel pipe the other day. 1 x 4 inch diam and 1 x 2 inch diam, both 6 inches long, with a pipe welded through them. I now have a gas torch attached to my vice. Seems to be working well. After soaking the timber for 20 minutes and working on one section at a time, that section dries out pretty fast. Do you keep on soaking again and just work on one section at a time without having to soak the full length. My wife reckons I will stain the bottom of the bath tub, so I am just soaking the part I am working on.

On the right track,..?.. I am pretty amazed at how well it bends but I think this will be a very long process

Paul

You don't need to soak the wood, just keep it wet. So, wet it, bend until it starts to dry out, then wet it again. Do a section at a time.

What's the wood?
Spray the wood from a squirt bottle and re spray when the wood dries out. The usual order of bends is waist, upper then lower bout, ie do your tightest radius bends first. For the tight bends support the wood with a metal slat on the outside of the bend if there's a risk of fibres popping out.

Hey Mandoman,

Thanks for that, very much appreciated. I am currently finding the 2inch pipe a bit better (tad hard to get my gas torch in there though). Another question please. Do you place a wet cloth in between your timber and the pipe,..

Pau

Originally Posted by Pauls321

Hey Mandoman,

Thanks for that, very much appreciated. I am currently finding the 2inch pipe a bit better (tad hard to get my gas torch in there though). Another question please. Do you place a wet cloth in between your timber and the pipe,..

Pau

Doing this can reduce risk of charring the wood but at the same time transfer of heat from the iron to the wood is impared if you've got a wet cloth in the way. Just spritz the wood with water when it's dry and take your time with the tight bends. A bending job on a cutaway side for one of my builds can take the best part of a day.

Thanks for all this advice, and sorry Kiwi, I missed your post earlier. The timber I am using for the sides is Australian Blackwood. Lovely grain in it. As this is my first acoustic attempt, if it doesnt work out, all is not lost. I had this piece of timber laying around, now sanded down to 2mm. The timber I have prepared for the top of bottom is Australian Red Cedar.

During the last week I bought a dremel in order to cut out my rosette circle, and also bought the plunge router accessory which has a circle cutting jig, but when I set it up, the radius was not small enough for what I want. After doing some googling about, I made a circle cutter from 6mm polycarbonate for my dremel to fit in to, has an adjustable arm to regulate the radius, and pivots on a 3mm pin. Works brilliantly on a trial. Waiting on a rosette to arrive from china via ebay, made from maple (I hope). I am sure I will find lots of other uses for the dremel.

Blackwood can be a challenge to bend......it's high in tannins so expect some discolouration of the wood. The discolouration can be controlled by minimizing the amount of water you use during bending or you can remove the discolouration post bending using Oxalic acid.

Hey there Kiwi, and thanks for your advice on oxalic acid, never really knew much about that before. I might have to obtain some. I could have used rosewood for the sides, I have plenty of that, but I had this nice length of blackwood laying around that I ripped down the centre, nice grain. I'll work on this again today with the Blackwood and see how it goes,

Paul

I was going to say that Blackwood is relatively easy to bend, but yep, it can discolour.

thanks for all this advice Mandoman and Kiwi. I am getting pretty close to having my first side done.

Paul

Originally Posted by Pauls321

thanks for all this advice Mandoman and Kiwi. I am getting pretty close to having my first side done.

Paul

Always a good feeling and a great sense of accomplishment when the jobs done. Its probably one of the trickier parts of guitar and uke building. I always do my sides first so it's done and out of the way and I can concentrate and the easier fun stuff.

Thanks Kiwi, I haven't touched this since Friday morning, been tied up, but I pretty much have both sides done now. They are in clamps in my mould and hopefully when they come out, they will be very close.

Paul

Hi again, Back from a few days away, hopefully soon my sides will be finished. One question at this stage to pre empt applying the kerfling to the top. Is the top flat,..?, So that when I apply the kerfling to the sides for the top to be mounted later on, the kerfling goes straight across the side for the top? I realize I have to make a side tapering jig of some description when I get to do the bottom and before applying the kerfling to the sides for the bottom.

Paul