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I bought a 6x34 inch blanket from the ever-helpful John Hall and have my Fox bender ready to go. I am trying to modify it by putting a removable riser inside for a 6 inch wide tenor ukelele form to sit on so I can also use it for pairs of uke sides. The riser would lift the form enough to clear the sides of the bender so the cauls can press on the ends of the form. I need to modify springs etc. too. But the blanket and slats will hang over the ends 5-6 inches on each end. Bob Gleason had a post warning that this could be hard on the blanket without the heat sink of the form. I'm not clear if there is enough of a heat sink doing this with the blanket sandwiched between stainless slats (also bought from John). I don't want to damage the blanket, but more than that, I don't want to ignite something. It's less work and expense than making a uke bender and ordering a smaller blanket but not if it won't work. Any thoughts?

if you are making one or 2 ok but you will end up burning up the blanket.
they don't last long as the heat on the open area can over heat.

Thanks John - would it make much difference if I clamped scraps of side material at the ends to fill up the empty spaces?

that will help. It is about the free area over heating so I think that will do it

I leave my sides long with a lot of overhang on both ends. Usually they're more than long enough to accommodate the entire length of the blanket. I use chalk to mark the waist on each side, prior to bending.

I've scribed a line on both of my steel slats, which I line up with the waist on the form. I line up the chalk lines on the sides, with the scribed line on the slats, that way, the bookmatch looks right and I have sufficient overhang on both ends to accommodate the blanket.

I hope I made sense.