side thickness for bending

[Bruce Herrmann]

I'm about to bend up some OM sides using my electric bender.
The Brazilian rosewood seems particularly dense and hard, harder than other sides I have. Would you guys thickness sand to about .90 for bending this wood? Could I go down to .085 and maintain a safety margin? I would not go thicker, it probably would not work. Thinner and I'm not sure about it's chances of cracking...
Seems like .90 might be a good compromise. Any thoughts?
Thanks

[Jim Bancroft]

I guess I'd go with whatever thickness you would like. If it's going to crack, it's going to crack, doesn't matter what the thickness.
Not a big deal if it does crack, just glue it with hot hide glue. Once it is finished you will never see the crack.
With the rarity of brazilian rosewood, I certainly wouldn't reject the side because of a crack.

Jim

[Bruce Herrmann]

Thanks Jim, agree on the crack, just hope for good luck with it. I think I'm in a safe
area with this thickness, I just bent some Indian rosewood sides at .055 and they did
crack but repaired nicely just as you suggested. Felt too thin however, I think I'll have a little more margin of safety with the.85-.90 range. This is just really hard stuff, seems much harder than any Brazilian I've ever worked with before...