Going to use my bending heat blanket for the first time.....

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I'd appreciate some input, advice, wisdom.
I am starting over on the guitar for my grandson. That is another story.
I started out with Santos Mahogany for his guitar, was trying to bend a cutaway, broke the side, switched to some cherry.
Okay, so I have one more set of the Santos, so I'm going back to that B & S wood, but I'm not doing a cutaway, just normal OM.

This will be my first time to use my heat blanket and controller. I'm not scared or anything, I've bent a dozen sets on my bender. However, I have never wrapped the wood when bending, I've just sandwiched between two stainless slats. The Cherry I bent last discolored.....enough that when trying to sand it down to nice clean wood I had problems. So I'm thinking I need to start wrapping. The question is should I wrap in aluminum foil or kraft paper, or does it matter. The Santos Mahogany is not oily, but it can scortch, and it can pick up stain from the stainless steel.

So what would you experienced bender guys do? Or does it matter which I use to wrap in? I'm also inclined to bend it dry rather when spritzing the sides before wrapping, just so I don't get water stains, although those usually do sand off easily. Mixed ideas on whether the moisture is necessary I know, I've always spritzed my wood when bending.
The first time I bent this Santos I soaked the sides in hot water for about 10 minutes before bending, and at that time it bent fine.

Thanks for your input.

Kevin

[Danl8]

We know that wood can bend perfectly well when it is dry, so wetting is just an aid. And wetting doesn't have to mean soaking. The steam generated helps the heat penetrate. If you use the layering technique that John has on his videos, staining shouldn't much of a risk. I spritz the inside of the sides and dampen the brown or white heavy paper in the bending sandwich and in my short series of 5 sets since getting the machine, no issues at all.

[johnnparchem]

I'd appreciate some input, advice, wisdom.
I am starting over on the guitar for my grandson. That is another story.
I started out with Santos Mahogany for his guitar, was trying to bend a cutaway, broke the side, switched to some cherry.
Okay, so I have one more set of the Santos, so I'm going back to that B & S wood, but I'm not doing a cutaway, just normal OM.

This will be my first time to use my heat blanket and controller. I'm not scared or anything, I've bent a dozen sets on my bender. However, I have never wrapped the wood when bending, I've just sandwiched between two stainless slats. The Cherry I bent last discolored.....enough that when trying to sand it down to nice clean wood I had problems. So I'm thinking I need to start wrapping. The question is should I wrap in aluminum foil or kraft paper, or does it matter. The Santos Mahogany is not oily, but it can scortch, and it can pick up stain from the stainless steel.

So what would you experienced bender guys do? Or does it matter which I use to wrap in? I'm also inclined to bend it dry rather when spritzing the sides before wrapping, just so I don't get water stains, although those usually do sand off easily. Mixed ideas on whether the moisture is necessary I know, I've always spritzed my wood when bending.
The first time I bent this Santos I soaked the sides in hot water for about 10 minutes before bending, and at that time it bent fine.

Thanks for your input.

Kevin

For that sort of bending I use white paper towel, I spritz the wood. Things will happen faster with the blanket so keep an eye on a thermometer or temperature gauge.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Well white paper towel makes sense, certainly not expensive and you got to believe theres nothing in the paper to cause a problem.
I have my newly built PID temp controller and looking foward to this first use of the new system.

[Bob Gleason]

Lots of takes on bending. I work mostly with curly woods and have been successful with my method, so I keep using it. Staining has not been a problem , with the exception of cases of over cooking which really messes things up! Easy to do that. Pay attention. There seems to be wide disagreement on how wet to make things, but thoroughly wetting the side in cold water without letting it soak, has worked the best for me. I see some folks using 2 blankets for really wild wood, and that is intriguing but I have not tried it. Good luck with your bending. http://www.pegasusguitars.com/how-i-ben ... sides.html

[tippie53]

Like Bob I use a similar technique that he told me about.
Wood is stupid get it hot it bends. The key thing to me is the thickness I bend .075 same as Martin. I also use wet paper like Bob I spray the wood. Any staining sands off easy enough. I have used Super Soft 2 on high figured wood.
Like anything else you will develop a feel as you go. The more you do the better you get.

As for 2 blankets I tried it and didn't see any difference. I will say the it may depend on the wattage. A 2 1/2 watt per sq in blanket will not remain as hot as a 5 watts per sq in.

I tried them early to save a buck found them to be an issue on heat control. They had cold spots that caused more warpage and uneven bending. I found the 5 watters didn't loose the temp on a heat load so that is why I use them.

[John J]

I've had good luck with parchment paper. Spritz with distilled water then wrap in paper. Tough or expected tough to bend wood I've had excellent luck with SuperSoft II. I recently bent and then unbent then rebent a cutaway side of Tasmanian Blackwood a total of three times.

[Bob Gleason]

I have bought Super Soft twice. I want it to work, but I can find any difference. Threw the stuff out both times, because I needed a good spray bottle on the spot. Their spray bottles are good quality!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

To report in, I thought I was so smart. Spritzed wrapped in paper, wrapped in foil. Sandwich with blanket on top of wood, SS slats over and under. Set controller to 290 degrees. Started bending lower bout at 250, just started the waist bend, then bent the upper bout at about 275. Bent the waist last heat at 290.
Took the side out of the bender and the upper bout had a break. Argument!
I went too fast on the upper bout bend.....but I thought, blanket, even heat, sure no sweat. Art.
So, I'm out of the Santos Mahogany now, so I pulled out a set of Sapele. Bent both sides today, same basic recipe and they came out great. Only difference, I bent that upper bout slowly.
SO I'm now making a Sapele and spruce OM.
More later

[tippie53]

Santos is more brittle and sometimes takes a bit of water