Small Piece Bending Jig?

[Gordon Bellerose]

I want to bend some small pieces of wood for headstock binding.
I am considering using tools I already have on hand, as always, to save a bit of money.
I do not want to purchase a bending iron, as they are priced a bit richly for my taste.

I am thinking of using a bridge plate removal heating blanket, which I have, and a small piece of pipe or a wooden dowel sized to the radius I need.

Do you think that would work?
Has anyone else tried it?
Am I just being cheap?

[Eric Baack]

I've done it on the nozzle of a heat gun

[David King]

I use a temp controlled soldering iron set at 350-400º and that works really well for a small radius. For larger radii and wider sections I've had good luck with just a cloths iron working against a flat surface.

[Gordon Bellerose]

OK, thanks guys.
I'm interested in both methods. I have a heat gun, and a clothes iron. I may have to ask my wife how that works!! OUCH!!
Easy sisters. Just joking, I've been ironing my own stuff for my whole life.

With a heat gun, are you simply bending around the nozzle after it gets hot?
Could I use the heat gun to heat a small section of pipe and bend around that?
Do I need water to bend the little pieces?

A temp controlled soldering iron. How do you use it?

[Arnt Rian]

Sharp bends on little wood pieces can be tricky, its usually easier to start with longer sections so you have something to hold on to while you bend. I sometimes build up the thickness with two or more layers of thinner pieces. This works best with darker woods, obviously.

I have used the soldering iron a few times, I simply work the wood over the shaft of the thing, in similar fashion to how you would bend it over a regular bending pipe. With the heat gun, I hold the binding with pliers while the gun is held stationary in a vise, and move the wood and the tip of the pliers in front of the gun. I've had more success with this method with plastic binding...

[Eric Baack]

use of water depends on the wood really, figured woods or other woods with much runout will be problematic anyways, but using water with them can make them splinter and crack. I put the heat gun in a vise and bent the binding over the nozzle. I used a small nozzle as it had a few steps in it and made sure to leave some extra length on the ends of the piece to hold onto. I did this guitar that way, both the body and the headstock.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Nice guitar Eric.
My headstock is similar in shape, but has 2 curved areas at the end instead of one like yours.
I was thinking I would leave the pieces long for bending anyway, so that will be a part of the plan.

On another note Eric; how did you shape the control knob recesses on the top of that guitar?
I believe you replied to my other thread, but pics are worth a thousand words.

[Todd Stock]

A length of 1" heavy wall conduit or cutoff from some black iron water pipe mounted in a vise can be heated with a propane torch (the kind that have a flex hose work well, and can use the cheaper stove bottles). I keep a couple different size of these bending pipes around...a sheet metal baffle does a good job of preventing heat leakage out of the pipe. set the heat so that water dribbled on the main bending area of the pipe dances quickly clear. If using clamps to fix the pipe to the bench, try using some firebrick under the pipe ...bad thing to set bench on fire. Best bet is clamp in steel and iron bench vise. Back the bend with some stainless, spring, or aluminum sheet...helps prevent blowout.

Galvanized pipe will gas out zinc fumes if overheated, but you'll want to exercise care in any case because of a) open flame, and b) combustion by-products from propane. Zinc melts around 750 degrees F or so, so keep things under 500 and you should be good.

[Eric Baack]

I don't have any pictures of the process of making the knob recess pockets. What I did was use a 3/8" box core (round) bit with a bearing from my trim bit mounted on it. I made templates with 3 sizes of hole saws. With the big hole I made a shallow cut, with the medium hole I made a little deeper cut, and with the small hole I made the cut to final depth. That leaves a slight step in the sides that can be cleaned up with a curved scraper, sandpaper, or a dremel bit.