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FYI, we've heard that a few people have had some trouble Katalox bending sides for their acoustics. The general consensus seems to be that if you get them too hot the tend break. Apparently, if you keep them under 200 degrees or so they'll bend just fine, but any hotter than that they they get fairly brittle. Thoughts?

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Hibdon Hardwood, Inc.
http://www.hibdonhardwood.com
1410 N. Broadway
Saint Louis, Missouri 63102
314.621.7711

Wish I could help you out but I have never worked with Katalox. It is a nice looking wood so I might be using it someday.

Sapele and makore are other woods that tend to go from ready to bend to brittle in just a few minutes. I have never tried to bend at a relatively cool temperature but if others are having luck with it then so be it.

What I do is make a sandwich of damp wood, wet paper. tin foil, heating blankets, and metal slates. I use a separate waist blanket and heat it up first and bring the waist in. Then I turn the blanket off and spray water into the waist to cool. Then I heat the main blanket and bring the lower then upper bout in rather quickly. That prevents the sides from getting prematurely hot and becoming brittle.

That is how I would do katalox but, it may not work.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I am a beginner at this, however I did just use Katalox on my second build.

I didn't use a bending machine, just a homemade hot pipe. I also didn't measure the temperature as I was bending. The cartridge heater I had at the time was underpowered but I know it would get to temperatures upwards of 300 degrees. So, I would have to wait for the pipe to get really hot, bend some, and then let it reheat as the wet wood tended to cool the pipe off too much.

The only other set I've bent other than Katalox was on my first build which was Mayan Walnut (Tzalam). Maybe it's due to my inexperience, but I couldn't really tell much of a difference between them when it came to bending.

I haven't worked with katalox, but I would expect it to need to be thinner than most woods due to its extremely high Young's modulus. By my calculations, .060" katalox should be about the same stiffness as .080" mahogany.

Bump.

Has anyone bent Katalox since this thread died? I’m getting ready to bend a set (thanks Hibdon) and would appreciate any tips. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Wish I could help bryan .I bought quite a bit of it and have yet to use it. I wouldn/t wet it though it seems very dry and brittle IMHO. Still setting up new shop. Perhaps I should do a show an tell in the near future .I am also interested in how it behaves !!!

I just treated it like any other wood and it was fine. Thinned to .085.

I just finished thicknessing. I’m at 0.081, which is as thin as I have ever gone. It still feels quite stiff. I thicknessed a set of cherry sides at the same time and stopped at 0.097. That is thick for me but it started feeling floppy. These two sets are a world apart.

I’ll wait a day to see if anyone else chimes in. I think i’ll Use SS II just to be safe.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Thanks! You posted while I was typing. No problems then? Did you use Super Soft II? I assume you used a bending machine rather than pipe?

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

No super soft (ran out), fox style bender with steel slats and blankets, paper each side, lightly mist both paper and wood, bend waist at 240, bend lower bout, bend upper. Pretty much exactly like the Blues Creek instructions...