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We tried ebony bindings for the first tine and they blew to bits in the bender? Anyone got tips?

Any sign of extreme runout/diagonal grain?

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Pat

A bit but not moreso than other woods that have played nice.

From what I've heard, Ebony's not other woods...

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Hmmmm, I've bound two guitars with ebony. Bent nine pieces and one broke, the one that had noticeable runout at the break

I bend Ebony at 350-375 degrees and have had one small crack that was repairable.

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It will probably be alright.

Ebony seems to vary wildly on bendablility. I have had pieces that just won't bend. Superset does help. If you dry it out too much trying to get it too hot it often pops apart. I would Supersoft your bindings and wrap them in foil for a day before bending.

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Michael F Smith
Goat Rock Ukulele
http://goatrockukulele.com

Bend hot. I've broken plenty of ebony bindings.

I guess i got lucky bending ebony bings. Successfully Bent them in my bender along with a black limba side using supersoft. I thinned them to near 0.060"...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I know you want to bend them in the bender, but if that isn't cooperating, a hot pipe could be the way to go. I've only bound one guitar with ebony, but the pieces bent pretty easily with the hot pipe set at 6 1/2 out of 7 on the temp control knob and with liberal spritzing with water. All four pieces were taped together and bent at the same time. The binding was 1/4" x 0.080".

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Best tip I could give you is to use Blackwood. Butter.

I've bent 3 sets of BI3IE from LMI: http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-woo ... od-binding

I bent at 150c using what is becoming my typical approach for the side bending jig:

1) Spray with water, rather liberally, and wrap in aluminum foil.
2) Place in the bender sandwich and press the waist down just until the registration bar is seated into the slot in the bending form.
3) Turn on the silicone blanket.
4) At 100c start to crank the waist down. I do half a turn on the veneer press every 20 secs.
5) Once the waist is down attach the upper and lower bout blocks.
6) I start with the upper bout, don't know if it matters. Every 20 seconds move the bout block about an inch further down until fully bent.
7) Do the other bout the same way.

This was in one of the books I have and it has worked well for any bend I've done with the exception of Zebrawood which needed to be much thinner (0.65) compared to any binding or other sides I've bent. The thinner Zebrawood bent nicely too though, but I used less water to prevent cupping.

I'm new to this, so keep that in mind. Just my limited experience on a few bends.

Hope that helps.

Brad

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