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I’m looking for some tips on bending snakewood for binding. I have a difficult time bending it without having it crack or break. I bend freehand on a bending iron. My binding thickness is .08 in. or 2 mm. I have tried spraying the binding with water before bending and that didn’t work. I have also tried taking a rag dipped in boiling water and placing that on my bending iron. I bend the binding on the wet rag and rewet the rag when it starts to dry out. This method had worked with moderate success. But I still break a piece or two. Snakewood is to expensive to keep breaking and yet I have a couple people who want it on their guitars. Eventually I get it bent, but only after going through a few extra pieces. Any advice on bending this or other difficult woods for binding would be appreciated. Thanks

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
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Josh here is how I'm doing it:

I use a blanket and a side bending Jig, I lay down parchment paper on my metal slats and sandwich the snakewood in between the slats. So stacked it goes:

Slat
Blanket
Parchment
Snakewood
Parchment
Slat

I tension the jig and start heating the wood up, I don't even attempt to bend it at all until it's good and hot (about 10-15 minutes), I don't know what the temp is but I can smell the snakewood cooking (I have a dial that I marked with wood positions).

Then I spend about 5 minutes slowly bending the waste and pulling down the sides, I bend a little, let it rest, bend a little more let it rest...

Then when it's fully bent I cook it for another 10 minutes at a lower heat and let it sit overnight before pulling it out. So far I've had good luck with this method, nothing broken and it pretty well keeps it's shape, at some point I'll switch to John Mayes version of using 2 blankets.

Hope that helps...

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Thanks Paul

It sounds like you have a good method. I do not use a side bending jig so I guess I just have to take it really slow. Hmmm... I will keep trying.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

You might also want to consider a thinner binding, like maybe .0625" or so. It will help too. Just a thought. I do that when I use ebony bindings.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Definately go thinner. .062" is standard for bindings, and should bend nicely. I use my bender, and bend directly on the blanket, with no upper slat. I wear gloves, and slowly bend the bindings(all 4 taped tightly together) over the blanket, after snugging down the waist caul. On the tighter upper bout, I'll use a backer strip of some kind if I think the bindings will be prone to breaking.

But do yourself a favour, and thin them first...

When I bend I always tape the bindings in place on the guitar sides and bend them together.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Snakewood is really difficult to bend compared to other woods. I use a Fox bender and make sure its really hot before bending them. I run 4 pieces taped together with under the tap right before I put them in the bender, and take it rather slow. I've done some pretty tight curves with snakewood without breakage, but you might want to have some CA glue and clamps ready if doing it freehand.

My biggest gripe with snakewood are the splinters!

Regards,
Joshua French

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I bent snake wood binding fo a parlor guitar with some pretty tight bends. Used the Fox...got it real hot, spritz wood with water, wraped in tin foil, go slow... your done!

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Thanks guys!

I will try going thinner like a few of you recommend. I also tape the 4 pieces together and bend them all at once. I will give this a try and see what happens.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I should have mentioned that I do tape them together like the other guys do, I've tried spritzing and not and it doesn't seem to matter to snakewood, the key is to get it good and hot before you do anything. Also thinner is better, but if you want thicker just take more time bending, the wood needs time to stretch and adjust..

Where's Mayes when you need him, he's the bending master

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Good tips. I will definately try some of these when i get my snakewood binding from the "Zootman"

Me too!!!

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.