54 1/2 Heshtone guitars had their sides and binding bent on a Blues Creek bender going back nearly 20 years now and not a single one of them has come unbent since!
. Wish I could say the same.... 
When I needed engineering support for some terrible rope mahogany that I was building with where the "rope" figuring would cup John was there to suggest and send me a third caul and springs for the lower bout. Problem solved and I continued to use that third caul even though I didn't need to for other woods just to tighten up my bending routine.
My Blue Creek bender was one of the best Lutherie investments that I ever made.
I also used three slats in a combination of stainless and spring steel for different reasons but I can't remember why now. Oh yeah I wanted to reduce the risk of cracking a side when taking it off the bender and I wanted a slat on top of my blanket too to help direct the heat downward. So my blanket, controller and three slats two stainless and one spring came from Blues Creek too. All this stuff provided excellent service for my tenure as a builder and I never had any issues with any of it.
A big, heart felt thanks John my friend for all your help to me with this Lutherie madness!!!
