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This is my first time using wood binding - I got ebony from S-M. I kept the surface wet with Windex for a few minutes, then put it to my hot hot bending iron. I moved very slowly and let the wood tell me when it was ready. The first one gave way all of a sudden and it sure looks like grain runout (top one). The second one I moved even slower but it, too, split a bit, this time slowly lifting.

Any technique tips to pass along?

Click on the picture to enlarge

Ed

yes a tip I used was forgo the hot pipe and use a steam iron. You can use the iron with the pipe. ebony is tough to bend . If you can't get that to work make a boiling trough

What John said. It's difficult to bend.

in actuality plastic still make a more protective binding material than wood. However wood is an added design element. I stopped using ebony a long time ago. Dyed maple bends easier or look for black fiber binding

Thanks

I was laying in bed last night thinking how bad would black plastic be? Does the black fiber bend nicely, John?

Ed

A couple of things to consider. Tape four binding pieces together and bend them in a BCG side-bending machine with the same set up as for sides. Tape two pieces to the edge of the side and bend all three together in John's BCG machine. Bend on a pipe after soaking and use a stainless spring steel sheet to back it up (especially on the waist bend). Use a thermocouple to check the temp of the wood away from the pipe surface (350). Use Indian ebony (Diospyros ebenum) instead of Gaboon ebony (Diospyros crassiflora).

I have used each of these techniques for guitars and lutes with no issues other than busting a few pieces over the last 35 years (unavoidable). I like the Indian ebony, dark and polishes vg and I haven't cracked any of it yet. I used real ebony on one of the three I just finished using an old lutemaker's technique of a half thickness top edge employing a slot cut into my bending iron to ensure good heat transfer on three sides (posted that late last year).