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Hi guys now the problem I'm having is in bending Makore (Brazillian cherry, I thicknessed it to 85 thou (2.2mm) as I've done previously for rosewood and mahogany, they both bent easily, the rosewood was so so easy, this is a real pain, I've got one side done, and it really needed soaking and keeping it nearly saturated all the time to make it move, and now the second side is still putting up a fight I usually bend over a 2" stainless hot pipe.

Also I recently struggled bending maple binding for a uke, until I soaked it overnight and just persuaded it into the channels then taped it left it overnight and just touched up the spring back on the iron.

Any clues or tips should I build a fox bender I have the bulb fittings to hand, and some 22 swg mild steel I know I'd need to straighten it after use though.

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

John, I hesitate to offer a reply as any sort of expert, but no-one else has ... I'm surprised at the comment that you had trouble with maple. One thing that I have noticed, when bending on an open bending iron, is that it can take a long time for the iron to heat up enough, and a long time for the wood draped over it to heat up as well. After spending what I thought was a really long time to get a piece of Padauk to relax and bend over my Ibex bender (a back plate for a headstock, being bent to accommodate the volute), I had no problem bending the same guitar's sides on my Fox bender. I did let them heat up to close to 300 degrees, and I let them heat for a while. I suspect that you really need to let your bending iron to heat up A LOT, and then you need to really give the wood some time to relax over that REALLY HEATED UP iron. Just rock it back and forth continuously, and give it time until it's ready to go.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Not just me I go to evening classes unfortunaley we have a substitute teacher, and he caused a tear out in a side and broke a binding. I found wenge bindings easier to bend!

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes