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Serge, I don't know that answer. I haven't tried a blanket yet. My bender is open at the top (no attached slat) with steel rods holding it together. I use three bulbs, no blanket. It was slow but worked well with the cherry sides I bent. It may not be hot enough, though, for more difficult woods. I'll probably buy a blanket pretty soon.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Thanks Ron, i see that you bent the same kind of wood as my bud Alain, which is a light colored wood and supposedly not so easy to work with. Your results looked admirable as i remember your guitar quite clearly.

Could you tell me your method of sandwiching the sides please? i'm asking because i'm thinking of unnailing the aluminum slats i have on my forms. I don't mind if the process is slower, i love the idea of letting the wood relax by itself while the temperature rises since it's a somewhat critical operation!

Thanks

Serge

colby

here a trick for bending on a Hot pipe
soak the wood in water and wipe the wood off.
dont rewet the wood or it will crack.

   work the wood back and forth with no water
till the wood get Hot. don't stop working the wood.

have your mold right next to you. do the outer first

so it will fit inside the mold,almost like a (U) then do the waist last

also by working the wood back and forth In small stokes
never stoping ,when the wood get hot, bend the wood by
hand to fit the mold then clamp it. and leave over night. allspruce38788.4249884259

Ron, Thanks for the tips on the bending iron. I have bent sides on the iron before, I just can't seem to get it with the snakewood bindings. I'm not going to worry about it though. Since I'm going to be building guitars for a long time (working on #12 now) I'm going to go ahead and get a heating blanket and see how that works.
Do most of you recommend wrapping bindings in aluminum foil?

only if there maple or light color wood.

Actually, Serge, the cherry bends pretty easily. My "sandwich" was just: slat-wood-slat. However, my cherry stained green (sanded out OK). Next time it will be slat-kraft paper-wood-kraft paper-slat, spritzed with distilled water.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Thanks again Ron buddy, what would you do if you bought yourself a blanket, how would it change your sandwiching, where would you put the blanket in all of this? hope i'm not starting to get on my bud's nerves with my sandwich questions? would not want baloney slice thrown at me!

Serge, ask all you want, it won't bother me.
I've never even seen a blanket, so everyone else knows more than me about this. We both need the answer to that question. I know I've seen this discussed several times here somewhere.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

will guys

steel ,wood, steel,blanket. I use the blanket on top
of every thing.

Ron

Thanks Ron(old man) and Ron(all spruce) and Hesh(on behalf of Lance )! i'd also like to hear what Bruce Dickey has to say about his sandwiches since he uses bulbs and blankie and has his forms with aluminum nailed on 'em like me,

Bruce, where are you my friend?

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] I had slightly burned one piece of binding so when I went to throw it away I decided to break it so it would fit in the trash bag. [/QUOTE]

Hesh, Hesh, Hesh. At the price of that wood I would have saved it for a rosette, inlay or something. My wife gets upset when I won't throw out what she considers old junk wood, but I never know when I'll use it for a jig, test material, or a non-guitar project. If you start throwing Snakewood away on a regular basis, just put my name on your trash can and ship to me.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

me two, trashcans i mean! Serge Poirier38790.0348842593