My First practice Side Bending

[tippie53]

Bending isn't hard and as you can see can make you fire up some brain cells . You don't need 446 F maple bends well at the 375 range , once bent ( about 4 minutes ) hold the temp a min and then set to L for 220 to 250 for the 15 min cycle. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... nding&aq=f . Some woods have resin and pitch in them .
I use untreated paper. I do use Kraft or heavy White paper . Put that between the wood and slats , that will help avoid staining and pitching up the slats. The bend pattern is compensated for bending. Not all woods bend the same so we hit a happy medium .
Learning the right amount of water can be tricky but you won't need a lot . Maple just likes a touch . High figure woods I will wet the paper pretty much and allow a bit more time for heat penetration. Also you can pre shape your sides so you can avoid driving the bus all day .
Looks like you are on your way to be a bender .
have fun and keep the strings on the outside

[deadedith]

[/quote] keep the strings on the outside[/quote

Dang, John, I keep forgetting that. People complain my guitars are hard to play, now I know why..:-)

Anyway it is interesting to follow this bender's attempts - thanks for posting!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey DAvid,
That looks like fun, glad you got the bender.
Now, since you are retiring your electric bender, if you want to sell it on the cheap, let me know. At this point I still like doing it by hand.

Kevin

[Ben-Had]

Was that 446 deg F? Ouch. There's your scourching problem. Those puppies get hot!!

F 451 = whooooosh!

[Jim_H]

The hand benders are still handy, if not necessary, for bending things like purflings and such (especially for rosettes).

They can also be handy for touching up a side that might be a little stubborn, or has sprung back.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

JIM...shhhhhhhhhhhhhsh.
I'm trying to get that electric bender sheap!!!!

Kevin