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| Bending Quilted Mahogany (Cutaway) http://www-.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=1378 |
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| Author: | LanceK [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:10 am ] |
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Ok fella's, I need any kinda help you can offer. I have a wonderful set of Quilted Mahogany I got from Brian Hawkins, Beach Tonewood Very simular to this one which Brian donated for the OLF auctions a few weeks ago. 
I'm going to be using this for a personal guitar I plan to use in church. This guitar will have a Venetian Cutaway, what would you recommend for thickness at the cutaway area, and what bending temp would you use? Also, how much water? Thanks Lance |
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| Author: | John Kinnaird [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:14 am ] |
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Lance I would consider going to 1/16 inch in the cutaway section, 3/32 everywhere else. Plenty of heat, say about 350 and just spritz of water to distribute the heat. Then take it slow. If it were my project I would trim off a little from the sides (looks like you have plenty) and practice on a strip to see how whatever settings you choose actually work. Every batch of wood is different. Pretty stuff...good luck |
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| Author: | Dickey [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:16 am ] |
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Lance, I'm fifty/fifty on bends for Venetian, so take this with a grain of salt. If you are fortunate and it breaks, you may have a set that will make a Florentine. My nicest guitar to date is a Florentine intended to be a Venetian. With that said, I remember comments of spot thinning only the cutaway area to about .070 and other comments to thin the entire side. Some folk laminate the area with another internal layer so you can probably go even thinner. Another consideration is how tight the bend is going to be. And as you know, how figured the wood is, more figure = more difficult to bend without breaking. Less water is better. I did a mahogany L-00 and if you play with it wet too long you can get compression lines as the cells collapse in the bend. It can be done. Especially if you have enough sets..... grin. I just finished binding my son's SJ with highly flamed maple. four consecutive strips all identical, perfectly bent..... only took me sixteen pieces of binding. Wow, but do they look good. My son won't quit smiling. Good luck buddy. Florentineguy, bd. Oh, I saw a picture in the Taylor factory of their cutaway setup, to the right and on the floor was a five gallon bucket full of water and sides .... soaking.... |
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| Author: | Sylvan [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:44 am ] |
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Your bending setup will dictate your methods. So here is my setup and my method for using it. My bender is Fox Style with .013 spring steel slats and an LMI blanket. The LMI blanket is on the form and the two sheets of spring steel are on top of that. The wood ultimately goes between the sheets of spring steel. I have never broken anything with this setup. I thin the cutaway side to .080-.085". Then lightly spritz with water and wrap in tin foil from the kitchen. Let the bender get hot (I set my timer when I first turn it on to 20 minutes at 100% heat. At ten minutes, I open the bender and insert the wood. Then slowly bend the waist (1/2 turn every three seconds (I count)). Then the large bout. Then the cutaway again very slowly as above. I then reduce the heat to 40% for the remainder of the time on my timer (usually about 7-8 minutes). I find the bending is not difficult. Removal from the machine is where the wood wants to crack. The absolute key to the entire process is once it is bent in the bender leave it in the bender at least overnight. I bend cutaways as the last thing I do in the afternoon. Leaving it overnight allows the wood to take a good "set" and you have much less chance of breaking it when you remove it from the bender. When you remove it I loosen the large bout first placing my hand over the wood and allowing one slat to spring free. Then I do the same process on the cutaway carefully sticking my hand on the wood and holding it in the cutaway as the front slat springs free. I continue holding the cutaway with one hand as I loosen the waist raising it all the way to the top of the bender. Only then do I slowly allow the wood and remining slat to rise. Then I remove it from the bender and put it in the mold. I have bent every "shaky" wood I can think of and never cracked one with this method. Good luck!!!! |
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| Author: | John Mayes [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 3:23 am ] |
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I'd take it down to .075. Good amount of water. Bend the waist ASAP, then thew lower as quick as prudent, which will give ya extra time on the cutaway. Quilted Mahogany is the hardest wood to bend I think.. and a tight cutaway even more so! |
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