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[QUOTE=CarltonM]Careful Alan, my friend. I know it's difficult, but innuendo is something we try to avoid here, even though it's funny to many of us. It's an indistinct line we have to avoid crossing, so it's best to err on the side of caution.

I'm not picking on you here, because you're not the first to receive a notice of this sort, nor will you be the last. This forum has members (and potential members) of all sorts and sensibilities, and we don't want to alienate any of them.

Thanks!!![/QUOTE]

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anybody. I'll be more careful. Thanks for the warning, and, the advice I gave was about how to fix the problem, and it would work. I hot pipe bend the sides, and put the sides in the mold, while still damp, and hot, and put sticks across the upper and lower bouts, where they need it. Works for me.  Alan.

Dave, do you have a metal form (heated) to clamp your bent sides to?
That's what I use after bending on a pipe, and if I get any recalcitrant pieces like yours, they get an outside layer of thin metal clamped over them. This, then, gets the recalcitrance cooked out of it.

So far, so good. But that ebony looks pretty interesting....

Like Bruce said, good luck!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I still haven't got all the kink out of the sides. I do think I have them about flat enough that I can sand the rest. Bruce's idea worked pretty well, although I may go ahead and cook them a couple more times just to get them as flat as I can.

Steve, do you mean you haev a metal outside mold? I don't have anything like that. I wish I did and maybe this wouldn't even be an issue any more.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Dave,

All I have is a metal-covered bending form, which looks a great deal like a Fox bender, only that each one is a dedicated shape. The "outside" metal is only an additional layer clamped up, or on, when needed. (It goes over the bent side.) This is heated with light bulbs, which get plenty hot. I posted pics a while back of one of those forms that I burned to the ground with 200 watt light bulbs a-blazing inside. Some doofus (again, no names) left the silly contraption ON all night....

Don't do that.   

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I did something similar once. I left a set of Q/S sycamore bindings in the bender and walked out of the shop with the blanket still turned on. Then, I didn't come back for three days. The smell in the shop tipped me off right away. Very crispy bindings!

Next day I went down and bought a timer for the blanket.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars