Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey everyone,
I'm new here and new to guitar building, I've made an electric guitar body (still needs electronics) and I made a guitar neck from scratch for a body my son found in the garbage (it turned out pretty good) Ok now to the point... I want to start building acoustic guitars and just set up my pipe bender today. I bent some scrap wood and would like some input, bending went pretty good but I got a lot of burn, is this ok?, should I just sand it out? Any advise would be great...

Jeff

PS how do I post pics?

A recent post had a tip about using a wet paper towel over the pipe and rewet it as necessary. I am going to try tis for the next set of wood Im going to bend with a pipe.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Try the wet paper towel...but please pay attention to what you are doing - paper catches fire easily. DO NOT leave your pipe unattended !
I unplug mine and leave it on the concrete floor when done and since it is in my garage, I check on it every 5 to 10 minutes till it cools down. I wet the paper towels down with water after removing them from the pipe so they do not continue to burn.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Jeff-
What kind of wood were you bending?
How thin was it? (very important)
Did you wet it/ soak it/ spray it before or during bending?
How hot was your iron?
I like to have the iron hot enough so that a few drops of water 'dance around' on the pipe. If they just sit there- too cool. If they just go 'Pfffft' and evaporate immediately-too hot.
A wet rag or wet paper towel to get some steam into play is a good idea with most woods. Very 'curly' woods can kinda 'fall apart' if they get wet.
Scorching/burning is not a good thing, though some oily woods (like IRW) just get a bit of burnt resin on the surface which can be scraped off easily.

You are on the right track- using scrap. It takes a while to get a bit of 'feel' for it and even then can be tricky/frustrating.
Also, practice bending a 'shape' like a guitar waist and bout - getting the curves and the 'straights' to flow together without kinks and overbending is not easy some times. Also, straightening out a piece and re-bending it can be a challenge.

Cheers
John

Thanks for the input everyone,

JohnAbercrombie,
Wood was red oak, it was 5/4 x .090 (for test and practice) that I just dipped in water (couldn't find my spray bottle). I did get some good bends. I'm guessing my pipe was too hot, the water just went 'Pfffft'. I'll be trying again soon with the wood a little wider and a wet towel.

Thanks again,
Jeff

Jeff-
Sounds like you are on the right track with your practice. You do get to 'feel' when the wood 'lets go' and bends with heat.
Using a backing strap of sheet metal or aluminum flashing will help prevent 'blow-outs' on the outside of tight bends.

Cheers
John