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Well I bent my first set of sides for an actual commissioned guitar lat night with SSII. This is an extremely curly set of Narra from uncle Bob. From past knowledge I know this wood likes to separate at the change of grain orientation in the curl on tight bends. I have also had a bit of faceting issues in the past.

This bend was sweet. got to temp (310) in about 4 min. Bent the waist half way. Did the cutaway in maybe 2 min almost non stop. By the time I got to the back to do the lower bout. It had all but done its self. this photo is kind of an illusion due to angle taken I guess but the entry bend and return or horn bend both are only 1 1/4" radius




Anyway no facets no figure separation, no cracking of any kind at a .090" 2.3mm Just a smooth bend.

I wonder if SSII would be as effective for hand bending as it is for form bending?  Another possibility, would the wood be plastic enough to bend in an external form with an heat gun and some clamps?  Just thinking out loud.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I would imagin there gould be no differance in pipe bending and mold bending. External mold, with a heat gun....Man you really want to work hard

Michael that turned out great. I have been touting the merits of Super Soft II for a couple of years now. I'm very happy to see it worked well for you.

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I don't think I will bend anything without it anymore.

This set Did scare me a bit. I had treated the wood and wrapped in kraft paper as per the instruction on the bottle. When I removed this set from the kraft paper to prepare for bending it appeared that the SSII had discolored the wood but I went a head and bent the set assuming any discolor was on the surface only. After bending the discoloration completely disappeared. On the test sets of Narra you sent me and the other test sets I did there was no discoloration after the treatment dried. I was a bit worried but no problem in the end.

Michael,

With regards to bending Zirocote, do you still plan on coating the wood with CA before bending or do you think the Super-Soft II is all that is needed?

Thanks,

- Ric

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Ric Hollander
Kings Park, NY
http://www.hollanderguitars.com

I just ordered a gallon if this stuff from veneersupplies.com.  Thanks again for sharing this trick!!

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Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=Ric Hollander] Michael,

With regards to bending Zirocote, do you still plan on coating the wood with CA before bending or do you think the Super-Soft II is all that is needed?

Thanks,

- Ric[/QUOTE]

Two entirely different issue. I coat Ziricote with CA to prevent lateral or with the grain separation. Ziricote is not bad about cracking cross grain is is bad about splitting along a grain line. I would suspect that if I flooded any wood for that mater with CA then the SSII would be useless.

Ziricote is not at all hard to bend. Like I said the only problem is that it will split along the grain line pretty easy. in particularly if there is a bit of a sap pocket along a grain line.

SSI plasticizes the fiber to help prevent cross grain stress. CA bonds or impregnates the wood to help prevent with the grain splits.

[QUOTE=MichaelP] [QUOTE=Ric Hollander] Michael,

With regards to bending Zirocote, do you still plan on coating the wood with CA before bending or do you think the Super-Soft II is all that is needed?

Thanks,

- Ric[/QUOTE]

Two entirely different issue. I coat Ziricote with CA to prevent lateral or with the grain separation. Ziricote is not bad about cracking cross grain is is bad about splitting along a grain line. I would suspect that if I flooded any wood for that mater with CA then the SSII would be useless.

Ziricote is not at all hard to bend. Like I said the only problem is that it will split along the grain line pretty easy. in particularly if there is a bit of a sap pocket along a grain line.

SSI plasticizes the fiber to help prevent cross grain stress. CA bonds or impregnates the wood to help prevent with the grain splits.[/QUOTE]

Got ya. Thanks.

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Ric Hollander
Kings Park, NY
http://www.hollanderguitars.com

Michael ,I was wondering what the best procedure would be if the main bends were done in a bender and then the cut-away portion was done on a pipe.Should super soft be re-applied or what do you think?
                    James
                       

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Wow!!!
I've been sitting on a gallon of this stuff left over from some speaker veneering work I was doing before I got into lutherie. I've been moving for the last three months, so I've not been following the forum very much. I'll definitely use it for the next guitars I buid. Still a couple of months off due to the move.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

[QUOTE=James W B] Michael ,I was wondering what the best procedure would be if the main bends were done in a bender and then the cut-away portion was done on a pipe. Should super soft be re-applied or what do you think?
                      Jame s
                            [/QUOTE]

Well Here is what I think. When you treat the wood you want to us absorbent paper on both sides while it dries and you want it weighted down to prevent cupping while it dries.

With that said I don think you could do anything but treat the wood first bend the waist lower bout then the cutaway on the pipe. So do not re-treat.

Now that said Why would you want to do it that way unless you do not have a cutaway press caul.

Anyway the main thing is any time you wet your wood and have to allow it to dry it needs to be maintained in the flat or it will cup.

I thought I'd give this a try, just a quart to get me going, the amount I build it should last.

Any way $13.50 for a quart, then add $48 shipping, $25 customs handling, and $15 tax and we come to $101 for a $13.50 item. I don't think so!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Well, I checked out buying a gallon from Veneer Supplies about a year ago, they want $75.00USD shipping to Aussie, no thanks, I reckon I may have to experiment with a mix of glycerin, methylated spirits and water. Either that or do a deal going halves in a gallon with one of our good buddies OLFers in the USA and have them pack and ship my half USPS Any Takers

Cheers

Kim

How much do you want/need Kim?

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Aoibeann