Bending quilted big-leaf maple

[Graham McDonald]

I am about to bend sides for an F-5 style mandolin out of some quilted Big-leaf maple I got from Bruce Harvie some years back. I have bent lots of flamed maple, but wondering if there are tricks or things to look out for with Big-leaf. Heat, amount of moisture, that sort of thing. Being bent in a jig with a heating blanket.

Thanks

[peter.coombe]

Graham, I recently used some pretty wildly figured Big Leaf quilted Maple in a mandolin and did not have any issues using a hot pipe. The trick is to not wet it too much, just add a little bit of moisture. I just dampened one side (the pipe side) and it bent ok. Because there is less moisture in the wood you need to be more careful about the temperature and don't push it too much or it will snap. For the tight curves I use a strip of tin on the outside of the curve and that helps to stop if from snapping. The scroll makes it a bit harder than my A's.

[sunburst]

I second Peter. Minimal moisture, minimal heat.
I got some quilted bigleaf from Bruce also and made a mandola from it. Not an "F", no tight bends, just gentle curves. The wood tends to facet when bending because some areas bend easier than others (grain direction). I had my sides bent, but wanted to even out one of the faceted places so I heated up my bending iron and began to rock the facet on the iron... snap! Have extra pieces on hand and go slowly.