Side Bending

First off, I have to say the response to my posting on OLF has been tremendous. The encouragement and generosity of that entire place is so beautifully overwhelming.

In other news, I got a delivery from LMI on Saturday that contained some things that are gonna help me get moving along. Namely a side bending iron. I choose to purchase a premade one rather than building one mainly because it is easier this way. I don't have to spend time building one and if the one I build breaks, I'd have to troubleshoot and repair. With a purchased one, there will surely be some sort of customer support.

So with some pre thicknessed sides I decided to give bending a go. First I ensured that at least one edge of each side is straight so that it can be easily attached to the top. One side needed barely any smoothing, 1 pass with my No 5 did the trick. The other however required some work but after sharpening my plane blade it only took me 5-6 passes to straighten it.

After heating the iron I decided I would bend the side after only spraying it with some warm water. I began with the upper bout and quickly learned the pressure needed to start a bend as well as the heat it requires. I got the bout bent to my template and began the transistion to the waist. This proved more difficult as the transistions aren't perfect circles and can't be bent in a smooth even fashion like the bouts.

There really isnt much to note about the processes, It was just alot of fine tuning, bend and check. I did however soak the 2nd side in my tub for ~20 minutes and began by bending the waist first. I'm not sure if I prefer bending here first, it still took me just as long.

One of the sides got a twist in it when I failed to apply even pressure on either side of the side. I'm sure I can fix this with some heat.