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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on November 6, 2016 at 12:02pm

You tube has heaps of videos on bending wood, 3 main ways i'm familiar with are; using a heat blanket, very easy, but the blanket will cost 80 dollars or so, steam, once again not too hard, but you need to make a steamer which you can do pretty cheaply, and one i've used a couple of times is just a heat gun and wet rags, much slower and only small areas at a time, plus it's easy to burn the surface of the wood and needs a lot of sanding then. If you intend to do a lot, i'd go for the blanket, small, takes no extra space and easy to use, the steamer is pretty much the same, but you need a 6" diameter pvc pipe or similar and a kettle or something to create steam, so a little more space required, the heat gun and rags is a challenge, but satisfying if you get it right

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 7, 2016 at 1:56am

STEAM!  Lignum is the glue inside wood that binds the fibers to each other, it gets soft with heat, and steam makes sure you don't cook the wood trying to heat it. 

If you have a good sized roaster pan and rack, or a fish poacher, 1" or so of water in the bottom of the pan on your stove top; boil the water, put your piece of wood in and put the lid on, not to worry if a little bit that you aren't bending sticks out a tad, have your form ready to clamp the hot/softened bit of wood to.

I made some novelty drumsticks from 1/2" poplar dowel  that curved on an 8" radius this way.  At 20 min, not soft enough, another 25 min and they bent ok with the help of a lot of clamps.

your guitar sides should work much easier being a lot thinner.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on November 8, 2016 at 2:18pm

Hi Luis, as Darryl says.There are many was to bend guitar sides and all would involve use steam and / or water. The photos here show two methods I use. The pipe bender I made back in the 1970's and must have used it for 30 years or so before switching to the bending machine seen it the background.

To use the pipe bender. The pipe has an heating element from a cheep bar heater inside which goes through an old oven thermostat to control the heat. The pipe is none rusting brass or bronze. On top of he pipe I put a water holding material [you will have to experiment] I've used kitchen washing up pads, what is shown in the photo is a course fibre sanding sheet. it has to hold a certain amount of water, it will scorch away in time. I use a squirting bottle to keep it and the timber moist, the heat from the pipe creates steam which goes into the timber. As you feel the side become pliable  put pressure down using the two wood bearers shown. You need to generate lots of steam.  

The timber has to be thin and would depend on the timber being used, also the timber is normally 1/4 sawn. You could apply Veneer Softener sprayed on to the wood to assist the bending.

There is more to it than I have explained here, but U tube has it all there. I still use this method for mandolins or custom shape guitars.

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Luis Andres Indaburu on November 10, 2016 at 7:31am

Guys thank you so much.

I will see what I can  do. Not much space at home but I will improvise and Show you the results.

Thanks to Darryl, Taffy and JL

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on November 10, 2016 at 9:20am

Just to emphasize what Taffy said Luis, thinner material is much, much easier to form, it gets much more pliable, i've only done it in a small way , but guys like Taffy can give you great advice.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on November 13, 2016 at 1:37am

This is about as simple as you can get.A metal tube mounted on a wooden base.

Heat the tube evenly with a blowtorch.Splashing the tube with water will give an indication of the temperature,the water will ball up and roll off.Too hot and the timber will scorch.Rock the wet timber as you press it over the tube,keep checking the curve against your body mould and just be patient.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Andres Indaburu on November 13, 2016 at 10:10am

That is a good idea.  Like a portable wood bending machine.

Thank you Michael.

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 16, 2016 at 1:12am

I ran across another youtube video with a similar bending rig using what was claimed to be a 200w incandescent bulb inside the tube as a heat source...

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on November 16, 2016 at 8:41am

Hi, the side bending jig in the photos uses 3 x 150w heat globes.
Taff

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