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how easy to bend yellow cedar?
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Author:  mqbernardo [ Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:  how easy to bend yellow cedar?
Hi all, thanks forlooking! since it´s cheaper than cypress, i´m thinking of using yellow cedar (C. nootkatensis) for my 1st try at a flamenco. wonder how easy (or hard...) it is to bend on a hot pipe?

thanks again,
miguel.
Author:  Jeff Highland [ Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
I don't know about a hot pipe, but I just used it for my first attempt with a heating blanket (prevoiusly I have used an Ibex) and it bent very easily
Author:  chinito [ Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
Hi Miguel,

I'm just finishing a yellow cedar guitar (my first) and can say it bends on a hot pipe very easily. The main issue besides scorching is it is very easy to get "kink" marks across the grain in the waist. Like creases when you fold corrugated cardboard. Scraped and sanded so they were smooth to the touch but show up under finish as the wood is so light in colour. :oops:

I also found scraping was a little tricky as it got stringy/fuzzy if still damp after wiping off hide glue. This last point is probably more related to me being impatient than properties of the wood itself. Dry yellow cedar scraped very cleanly. I imagine the kink marks are not limited to yellow cedar either. On the whole I'd definitely use it again.

Best Holiday wishes,
Jake.
Author:  Jim Kirby [ Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
I've built two flamenco blanca's with yellow cedar so far, and I didn't have any particular trouble doing bends on a Fox bender or touch up on a pipe. I'm with Jake on other aspects of woodworking, though. You can tear it up if you try to scrape it while its a little damp. It doesn't much enjoy being sanded, either. Overall, it seems to want to fight most surface treatment efforts. makes a nice guitar when all done, though.
Author:  mqbernardo [ Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
thanks for the reply, guys! i guess it will take the low-angle smoother treatment, then.
Author:  Mike Collins [ Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
chinito wrote:
I'm just finishing a yellow cedar guitar (my first) and can say it bends on a hot pipe very easily. The main issue besides scorching is it is very easy to get "kink" marks across the grain in the waist. Like creases when you fold corrugated cardboard. Scraped and sanded so they were smooth to the touch but show up under finish as the wood is so light in colour.
I love that wood.
The kinks are caused by bending to fast,or the wood is to thick.
OR BOTH.
Happens with Mahogany also.
I love Yellow Cedar!
The fragrance!!
Put a piece of scraficial veneer between the Cedar & the pipe.
Or a thin metal piece , I think Stew-Mac sells one.
This allows you to bend it without burning it.

never scrape a softwood(it's a hardwood)
with a heavy burr.
It just digs the soft lines up.

Mike
Author:  mqbernardo [ Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: how easy to bend yellow cedar?
Mike Collins wrote:
never scrape a softwood(it's a hardwood)
with a heavy burr.
It just digs the soft lines up.
and what about a scraper with no burr?
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