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Goat Rock Ukulele
PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:57 pm 
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Has anyone use the Pro Glue veneer softener. It's probably the same thing as Super Soft right?. I't cheaper and easier to get because they have it at Woodcraft. But maybe it will turn your whole project red, I don't know. I have met my match with some leopard wood sides.

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dzsmith
PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:10 pm 
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I mix water, alcohol, and glycerin to make mine.
Cheap-o-rama.

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Tom West
PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:15 pm 
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Dan: What are your proportions....?
Tom

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tysam
PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:53 pm 
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I am just getting ready to bend a set of leopardwood. I had a feeling it would be a bit of a pain. What problems did you have, Mike? I'll be following this one due to the 20 dollar cost of supersoft and the 50 dollar shipping fee to get it to Canada.

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dzsmith
PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:54 pm 
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Tom West wrote:
Dan: What are your proportions....?
Tom

Tom,
4 parts water, 2 parts glycerin, 1 part alcohol.
I've seen recipes with added glue, but I'm not sure what the glue is for.
I have only used this on thin veneer sheets.
Dan

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Goat Rock Ukulele
PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 5:50 pm 
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What problems did you have, Mike? I'll be following this one due to the 20 dollar cost of supersoft and the 50 dollar shipping fee to get it to Canada.[/quote]

I thinned these sides down to .065, pretty darn thin. Gave them a sprits, wrapped them in tinfoil. Put between two spring steel slats, got them up to 330 and they just laughed at me and stood straight out the back of the bender. I hang a clamp on the end of my slats and when the wood loosens you can see it come down. This stuff didn't come down at all. When I felt I could wait no longer I drew the sides down and heard them snap. I have done this twice now. I have never had such a problem with any other species.

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Mike OMelia
PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 6:07 pm 
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0.065. Yup. That's thin. Then, I saw u were a uke builder. Not so thin after all. Let us know how that recipe works.

Mike
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tysam
PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:43 pm 
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Thanks for the reply, Mike. I'm building a GA shaped guitar body so I'm looking at .08 for bending. Got a tip from an old timer here to use glycol ( basically glycol ether which is the ingredient in Super Soft) but he couldn't remember the proportions for the mix.I do have 2 sets of leopardwood sides so I guess that gives me 1 trial bend. I use the LMI bender so when I try I'll post if my method works . Thanks again. Al

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Bob Shanklin
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:20 pm 
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I bent several sets of Leopard wood bindings last month with SS2 at .080" and they all cracked. Had to go down to .070" and leave them wrapped in saran wrap & SS2 for a day and a half to get successful results. Bent at 325 degrees.

Bob
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Bobby M
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:53 am 
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Patience, patience, Patience is what I had to do to get these bent. Bend a small amount, relax, wait...wait...wait. repeat until done.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/8676/img03650.jpg

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Hesh
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:50 pm 
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An alternative is fabric softner and no not the dryer sheets.... :)

Back in the day lots of Luthiers used a few drops of Downey fabric softener in a bowl of water and then slathered the stuff on and let it soak over night before bending. It seemed to work for them.

I've never tried it so take this for what you paid for it.....
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tysam
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:17 pm 
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Heard that solution to use the fabric softener as well, Hesh but after some research I found out that the new formula for the Downy has a silicone based anti foaming agent in it. I don't know how much is actually in it but I don't want to take the chance. Think I'll go with the slow and steady route to bend .

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These users thanked the author tysam for the post: Hesh (Sat Aug 29, 2015 8:35 am)
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Hesh
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 8:38 am 
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tysam wrote:
Heard that solution to use the fabric softener as well, Hesh but after some research I found out that the new formula for the Downy has a silicone based anti foaming agent in it. I don't know how much is actually in it but I don't want to take the chance. Think I'll go with the slow and steady route to bend .


Alan thanks for that and this nixes Downey completely. We don't want any silicone around our guitars...
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tysam
PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:35 pm 
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Just a quick post to update. Just bent the leopardwood sides.....thinned them to .085 and bent them at 330...took my time since it is highly figured. Sprayed them with water, wrapped them in foil and went slowly. No problems.....good bend, no cupping.

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