Official Luthiers Forum!

I got a deal on some wenge about a month ago.

I am gonna put together some ribs this weekend.

This stuff does not have pores, it seems to have craters :)

So I am concerned about how it will hold up.

For those of you that have built with it, what should I shoot for on the sides for bending thickness?

I also have a set of padouk to bend, I already cracked one side at about 0.080, but have enough to make more sides.

What thickness do you use for padouk? That stuff is way brittle.

Jon - Are you using a heat blanket?  I have one you can borrow if you need.

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

The wenge should be ok at 0.079 it bends ok no where near as bad as
paduak.

With the paduak take it down to 0.074 it will realy make all the diference.
Just make sure you use good speaders and brace up the sides.

If you are still having trouble thin the waist a touch more (0.070)

And most of all take your time.

Good luck,

Joel.

I just bent a cutaway at .060" and it broke. Arrrgh.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Wenge is just fine acoustically. But it is very splitty, has huge pores, and it will spit splinters at you just for spite. I no longer list it among the available woods on my website. Life is too short.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I have bent cutaways in wenge by hand on a pipe at .090. It is somewhat stiff and reluctant to bend but it can be persuaded if you take your time. One nice thing is that it is very predictable. It tends to produce nice smooth bends with little tendency to "flake up".

Mark

[QUOTE=Howard Klepper] Wenge is just fine acoustically. But it is very splitty, has huge pores, and it will spit splinters at you just for spite. I no longer list it among the available woods on my website. Life is too short.[/QUOTE]

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Each time I picked up a plank of this stuff, it convinced me to put it back down.

Ever tried hugging a porcupine? Me neither.

Good to know it'll bend on a pipe.

Sorry Tim. I hope you had a matching orphan?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

If you have any luck with either, let me know, I have not. These are both very difficult woods to work with IMHO. Both are nice looking but ugly to bend.

Mike
White Oak, Texas