Bending the sides: First set AOK!

I have literally lost sleep over the possibility that I could not successfully bend the cutaway side of these guitars without fracturing the wood, in which case all the work on the tops would have been for nought.

But today I bent one set of sides, and they turned out perfectly! So I should get a sound nights' sleep, I hope. Of course, I may be jinxing myself for bending the next set on Thursday, but right now I'm pretty pleased and relieved.

As usual, I needed to make some tools; in this case, a boiling trough for the sides, and an add-on attachment for the bending iron.

In keeping with my idea of home-made tools, I made a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 36" boiling tough out of a length of 6" galvanized stove pipe I had laying about.  I screwed two 36" 2x4s together as a "mold,"  and laid out the pattern for cutting with shears.

My high-tech sheet metal brake. Basically, folding and pounding.

First folding the sides, then the ends. I did this on a piece of paper first, as proof of concept. I used the Chinese takeout carton as inspiration.

Pinching and folding the ends. More pounding.

The finished trough, with a mahogany side resting on the "submergence clips." In use, these four clips go over the wood, to keep it submerged in the boiling water.

My boiling setup on my outside workbench. About 36 degrees out today - not bad. I made supports for the ends of the trough because I feared the trough, which overhangs the boiler. might buckle from the weight of the water and the heat.    Two strips of 1/4" steel keep the heat up the sides.

I boiled each side for about 20 minutes. 

To manage the first super-tight curve at the cutaway, I added a smaller-diameter pipe to the main one, and added a secondary table top with a holder for the side, so I could concentrate on pressing the strip against the heated pipe. This worked great - no fractures, and the strip bent quickly and cleanly. I let it "set" for a minute when it was bent, and the copper clip you see fit around the just-bent part, holding it tight to the heated pipe.

Bending the non-cutaway side over the larger-diameter pipe.  I had to keep the wood wet by squirting water from a squeeze bottle on the wood - the hot pipe produced steam when it touched the wood, which aided the bending significantly.  By the time this side was bent, I felt a little more confident.

As I bent each piece, I kept laying it over the original masonite top pattern, to see how I was doing. By the time I was done, the bent side was formed with no pressure needed to keep it in shape.

I don't know how I ever thought I was going to be able to get both sides in the same mold. After I bent the cutaway side, and clamped it in place with the turnbuckles and additional clamps, I couldn't imagine taking the clamps off to set the other side in. So I made a simple drying jig for the non-cutaway side. As I took this photo, I was breathing a sigh of relief that both sides had been bent successfully.

Tuesday PM, both sides drying and setting in molds with radiant heat from the wood stove. Scooter is annoyed because her sleeping spot has been preempted.  I'm going to leave them in the molds tonight and tomorrow night, too, then remove them and bend the other set Thursday. Tomorrow, a major shop cleanup and making the head and tail blocks.

Here's the finished product:

H