spring steel or stainless...?

[gratay]

I didn't think it would be so hard to find spring steel 0.4mm thick sheet for my bending form...but having gone to a few steel places no one seems to know who does it?
I would also use stainless steel ...anything that will spring back to straight after being in bent form....

the only thing i can find to use is aluminium flashing but it is not really rigid enough and doesn't spring back to shape afterwards....also aluminium will turn wood green if its not wrapped in alfoil...
If anyone has any ideas about who likely suppliers may be for it I would be much appreciative....i have tried large steel merchants to no avail?
thanks very much

[echnidna]

many old clothes dryers have a thin stainless steel drum that you might be able to salvage.

[Wood Butcher]

Gratay,
0.4mm stainless is not a stock size in australia. At my old work we used .35mm stainless but we had get it ordered in specially and ony if we bought 3000kg's at a time. I don'tt know if it would spring back straight after being bent but it would't deform as bad as mild steel or aluminium.

[contrebasse]

I just used a few strips of tinned steel cut from a cooking oil drum. Worked for me.

[Paul B]

I just use Aluminium flashing. My blackwood sides turned green on my last guitar and they were wrapped in foil (aluminium foil same as the flashing), but it sanded out and looks pretty good, you can't see any green stuff now. Used it with EIR sides without the green #### happening too.

The stuff is so cheap that even it it doesn't spring back (is this important?) you just use some new flashing next time, or flatten the old stuff out by hand. I don't know what all the fuss is about with spring steel or stainless steel. It sounds like a beat up to me.

[Malibu]

If you're worried about the green (or rust marks from steel), maybe you could try some teflon sheet between the wood and the metal.

[gratay]

I just use Aluminium flashing. My blackwood sides turned green on my last guitar and they were wrapped in foil (aluminium foil same as the flashing), but it sanded out and looks pretty good, you can't see any green stuff now. Used it with EIR sides without the green #### happening too.

The stuff is so cheap that even it it doesn't spring back (is this important?) you just use some new flashing next time, or flatten the old stuff out by hand. I don't know what all the fuss is about with spring steel or stainless steel. It sounds like a beat up to me.

sorry i meant to say wrapped in craft paper.....
but yes your right people do wrap in aluminium foil which is essentially the same as flashing? seemingly without any problems...
i was just concerned about the fact that flashing is so pliable rather than spring steel staying straight ..across the width of the sides. But i did look at flashing today as an alternative.....

and contrebasse I like that idea ....you resourseful thing you......do'nt know if i could find a drum that would get 1 piece of around 36" unless its a very thin 44 gallon drum but i'll definitely look.
cheers

[Paul B]

All you need is a material that will bend with the side and conduct heat well. That's it, that's all it's gotta do.

I can understand if you were setting up a factory you'd want spring steel or whatever in order to have uniform bends across a batch of 1000 guitars without the metal slat degrading with time.

I think people sometimes focus on the materials others are using rather than the purpose of those materials, they focus on the how rather than the why, I guess that's natural. It then becomes ingrained into the craft. Think about the job at hand and how you'd do it, don't worry so much about what others are doing or what materials they're doing it with. Just think about what's required for the job at hand. It then gets a bit easier.

[Jackspira]

What about cutting up some stainless flue tube? would that be bendy enough?

[Wood Butcher]

Jack,
Stainless flue tube at normally at least .5 - .9mm thick. I think it would be too thick too bend like what is needed.

[contrebasse]

I used a cooking oil drum from the back of a fish and chip shop. a diameter of about 12", so using Pi etc thats around ... 36"???

http://www.pichotel.com/pic/2328IkAUn/47389.jpg

(You'd have fun cutting a 44 gallon drum ... and a strip about 6' long!)

[gratay]

I'll look into that contre,
if i can get the length of a side out of a 12"drum that would be a plan...

and Paul B , wise words....I was looking at spring steel mainly for the sturdiness across the side to minimise any twisting in the side but your right the main task is to conduct heat evenly over the side so flashing would be cheap and easier to get hold of.......the other concern was with the marking or colouring of the timber from the aluminium but since i'm initially using rosewood it will be ok ....more a problem with lighter coloured timber i guess....
then i have seen the price of spring steel and its not cheap which i thought would be considering i only need a small amount.....
anyway thanks guys ...i will look into either doing a lot of deep fried food for a while or try the flashing
thanks again..everyone

[Paul B]

I found that the discolouration of the timber during bending was proportional to the amount of water I sprayed on the side before I bent it. Some form of ionic transfer is hapenning I guess. The more water, the more green I got on the blackwood sides. I assume the water is acting as an electrolyte. I plan on using not much if any water on blackwood in future.

Glad it sanded out, I ended up with to sides that didn't match, one very green , one not so green.

[gratay]

well I looked around today and decided that a roll of flashing was worth a shot......0.3mm thick, 150mm wide (perfect width), 10m length, plenty for many sides for $17/roll ....
I will look into maybe wrapping the sides to prevent leaching ....

now just need a meat thermometer to gauge the temp as my blanket has no temp control...LMI seem to think the blankets will burn out if run on full power for to long and said up to about 5-10 mins would be ok ....then switch off and on until you complete the bend......
Wish i had some cheap sides to practise on.....

and if i burn the place down , martin you can say "I told you so"

[contrebasse]

weak oxalic acid can be used to remove the tannin stains from steel/water contact. You can get oxalic at bunnings in the cleaning dept, about $15 a litre bottle. Its poisonous.

[kiwigeo]

Grant...just hurry up and get some sides bent. The suspense is killing me...:D

[gratay]

i know......I'm going to throw a party when it finally happens...