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guys I'm working on 2 paduk sides ,they are too stiff and very hard to bend they also had cracks while I was trying to bend them,this may be because they are 3 mm thick, I'm using a mold with heat gun. what should I do for this?!
RE: paduk is driving me crazy (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
Yep don't think it's possible to bend at 3mm. I thin out my sides until I can hold them in the middle and get the "right amount" of flap when I shake them back and forth. It's fun to do and you get the right thickness literally every time. For reference I usually get about
1.8 or 1.9 Cypress 2.0 Indian Rosewood and Padauk 2.25 Maple
Posts: 1708
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: paduk is driving me crazy (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
Yes, as you've been told, 3 mm is too thick to bend. I make sides 1/16" thick which is 1.59 mm. Luckily, there are commonly available circular saw blades this thickness that can be used for cutting the slots in the neck that the sides will go into.
RE: paduk is driving me crazy (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
Lol ok not that I really have time to run around for you but here it is a heat gun bending iron. 2 minutes on google and I found this a few more minutes and I'm sure you could find 20 more of these!
You will not get a good heat distribution across and through the side just using a gun. Plus the risk of setting fire to your sides surely must go up!
Posts: 401
Joined: Mar. 5 2010
From: Caves Beach Australia
RE: paduk is driving me crazy (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
Yep, pancake pan temperature.
Wood bends best with some moisture in it (but not too much especially on curly wood) and this moisture would be swiftly removed by direct airflow from a heat gun.
RE: paduk is driving me crazy (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
If you search around online you can find clever and cheap bending iron setups, I know you can use a toaster element or even light bulbs.
The hotter the better up to about 400F or so, above that you will get scorching on lighter woods. I can always tell it's hot enough when the wood "gives up" and lets me bend the waist easily. And a spritz of water helps a lot (do it on both sides for tighter bends).
I noticed no one suggested Irving Sloane's method of putting wood into heated water to get it pliable enough to bend. Is this method dead?
The problem with that method is it results in buckling. The sides rarely stay flat when you put them on the form to dry. A old fashioned bending iron is by far the easiest and safest way to bend sides however there is a learning curve involved. One needs to learn how to set the temperature, etc. I've used a propane torch heated homemade bending iron for about 50 years and wouldn't even consider anything else.
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