shimmy Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 Hi all Im about to attempt to bend the sides for my uke that Im building. I have prepared a mold. I have read quite a few mixed opinions on preparing the wood to be bent. Some people say soak it for an hour, some say 5 mins and some say dont soak it at all but just mist it down. I will be using the bending pipe. I know it will be different for every timber also. The timber Im using is approx 1.8 mm australian blackwood (black acacia).. Thanks Shimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 It's nice and thin, make sure the pipe's hot enough (water dances and pops when sprinkled on), and see what happens. I'd start with just misting, and seeing how it bends. Otherwise, soak for MAYBE 5 minutes. Honestly 90% of the answers I see to 'how do I wet the wood' questions are 'spritz it'. Some woods need a bit more, some a bit less, if you have a particularly tight bend, you can consider putting a wet washcloth on your bender to generate consistent steam (Water carries the heat in better than air, and wood's an insulator). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 I see....It seems as tho my bender might just be the right heat then.. Another thing that Im wondering and didnt think about it till the last minute is.. Ive made a mold out of mdf ( its just the perfect shape of th uke jjigsawed out of 3 pieces of thick mdf and glued together.)...Are you suppposed to cut the side to the perfect length before bending? or cut it after you have bent it, but before you clamp it in the mold? I have seen one guy make 2 molds one for each side so that the excess can hang out of the mold...But then I have seen plenty of people just clamp the sides within a complete mold..I just never see what they do before they do that :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 I see....It seems as tho my bender might just be the right heat then.. Another thing that Im wondering and didnt think about it till the last minute is.. Ive made a mold out of mdf ( its just the perfect shape of th uke jjigsawed out of 3 pieces of thick mdf and glued together.)...Are you suppposed to cut the side to the perfect length before bending? or cut it after you have bent it, but before you clamp it in the mold? I have seen one guy make 2 molds one for each side so that the excess can hang out of the mold...But then I have seen plenty of people just clamp the sides within a complete mold..I just never see what they do before they do that :S shimmy..i'm making my first uke at the moment myself. i made a two piece mold, also out of mdf and have already bent my sides. i cut my sides just about a quarter inch long so that with careful clamping i ended up with just a bit hanging over..i bent and clamped them one at a time and while they were still clamped marked the center line where i was going to cut off that 1/8th" and did so with a back saw. now they're perfect when the two sides are clamped together...if you're planning an end wedge inlay like i am the joints don't have to be perfect..you're going to mount the neck over one and inlay over the other..if no inlay then your tail joint needs to be pretty precise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 sorry unclej when i first saw your post all i could see was the quote.... I see so thing to do would be to cut my mold in half perfectly then? and then join it back up again when im ready to join the sides.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 sorry unclej when i first saw your post all i could see was the quote.... I see so thing to do would be to cut my mold in half perfectly then? and then join it back up again when im ready to join the sides.. that was my fault..i hit enter before i started typing my answer then went back and edited. i wouldn't change what you have now..that's just the way i did it. i ran my sides a little long because i know how difficult it is to get an exact measurement of a curved surface. you can run yours a little long, bend them one at a time and then just mark the two center points of the one in the mold, remove it and cut it off. then both sides should meet. i have no idea how the pros do it but that was the easiest for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 It is good to keep the sides slightly long so that you have something to grab onto. You can always trim them after they're bent, but if you go to put them in the mold and they're too short....well....not the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 The way I do it is to leave the sides long until they are dry and ready to cut. I overlap the pieces in the mold and let it sit overnight and then cut the neck ends first and glue in the neck block (in the mold with a wax paper barrier) . When the glue is dry I clamp the sides tightly into the mold and carefully mark each piece where the centerline at the end block. Because the sides are long you need to overlap them one at a time to mark them both accurately. Once marked I cut them and glue the end block on, again in the mold. Hope this helps. ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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