I was in an optimistic mood this afternoon so I decided it was a good day to bend the sides. I got the bending pipe in the vise and plugged it in.
It takes awhile for the soldering iron inside to heat the pipe up to the 200 degrees I need to bend wood. That gives me time to wet the wood in the sink.
'the East Indian Rosewood came first. i got a good bend and put the side in the mold.
I tightened up the reverse clamps and got to work on the second side.
Success ! the East Indian is bent nicely. I will leave it in the mold over night to set, and dry. and now for the Sycamore.
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Sycamore bends very easily and because I have only the one tenor mold, I used another method. simply clamp the bends to the bending form from your bending machine. Works just fine. I have not used the bending machine for some time now I find I get better bends and don't break wood by doing it by hand over the hot pipe. It went so well that I even had time to select the fret boards and cut the fret slots. Thats enough for one day.