Cold Bendable Wood

[Eric Knapp]

Has anyone seen this and experimented with it? Furniture makers are liking it and it seems interesting. They process wood so it can be bent cold. Crazy.

http://www.puretimber.com/guitar-sides/

-Eric

[Bob Orr]

Had a look but wood is moist when shipped and must be moist to be cold bent. Would be concerned about movement when it dries out. Bob

[Bryan Bear]

While this looks really cool and makes me want to know more about how the process works, I don't see a reason for it in guitar making. It's not like side bending is difficult in any of the woods they offer and they don't say anything about offering backs that are matched to the side woods (unless I missed it). As it pertains to guitar making it seems like a solution without a problem, but I'm sure there are tons of other applications where this would be wonderful.

I will concede that the thicker sides is of potential benefit but there are other ways to stiffen and add mass.

I still really what to know what is going on that allows it to bend cold!

[Eric Knapp]

They compress the wood from end to end with heat, moisture, and a lot of force. You can then bend it and the parts that are stretching are just returning to their original length. Pretty clever.

-Eric

[Bryan Bear]

Cool!

[Steve Sawyer]

A fellow in my woodworking club who is a professional furniture builder (very high-end, one-of-kind art pieces) uses this stuff. He veneers his pieces extensively, so he is very sensitive to wood movement, so once it sets after bending, it must be highly stable. I too wonder as to its application in acoustic guitar building, though it might have some interesting uses for a solid-body or semi-hollow body guitar.

[Randolph Rhett]

Laminated sides are "cold bendable" too. They are also very rigid, stable, as thick as you want them to be, and can have a face veneer that matches your back. I have to agree that it looks like a solution looking for a problem in lutherie. Cool for cabinet work though.

[Ed Minch]

local cabinetmaker uses it to great advantage. He bought a 3 X 6 of cherry and made all of the bendy parts of this piece out of it:

http://www.viccovonvoss.com/furniture/2014-academy-art-exhibit-2/waters-edge/

As has been said - a solution in search of a problem for guitars