East Indian Rosewood thickness suggestions

[Mike Sandor]

I just picked up some real pretty East Indian Rosewood from Vikwood, located in Wisconsin. Second time I purchased woods from them, first time I visited the place, this time ordered over the phone. Not disappointed either time, although the web site does not do it justice. Good folks to work with and good pricing and two day delivery.
My question is, are there any watch outs for bending this stuff? First time working with this kind of wood and not sure how it bends. The sides came in at 3/16" thick, wondering what would be a good staring point for bending?
The back, which in there web site is described as "wild grain", came in at a bit over 1/4" thick. Is it tricky gluing this stuff. I believe I read that it needs to be cleaned well before gluing. What to use? Does all this stuff smell like cow manure?
As always, thanks in advance,
Mike

[Mario Proulx]

Yup, co manure is it....

EIR is a joy to glue; don't wipe the surfaces, or any other nonsense like that; just joint it to a nice tight, perfect fit, and glue it up with your wood glue of choice, either Titebond(original), hot hide glue, or even polyester glue.

The back should be thinned to around .090" to .100"(after jointing!), and the sides will be fine at .075" to .080". You'll find many who build heavier than that, but that's their choosing, not a necessity...

[Tom West]

Of all the woods EIR is one of the easiest to bend.
Tom