Why This Isn't As Easy As It Looks

So I called Chris at LMI yesterday, but he was getting ready to go on vacation so he transferred me to Dan to handle my situation. I emailed Dan the pictures of the back and sides so he could match them, then called him when I got home to make sure he got the pictures and to finalize the order.

Here's how part of the conversation went:

Dan: "Yeah, we find that zebrawood can be a little funny when bending. What we find works is to bend slow, use little or no water, and low heat."

Me: "Did you say low heat?"

Dan: "Yeah, and no water and bend slowly."

Me: "Really? That's funny, because I did just the opposite when I bent the other side, and it came out perfectly. I used a liberal amount of distilled water, high heat, and bent rather quickly. In fact, it cracked when I used low heat and bent slowly."

Dan: "Really? That just goes to show you."

Me: "Yep."

Or something like that. I knew what he meant: wood is from a living organism, and life does what it wants to do. Life resists formulas. Each piece of wood is different, and you have to listen to what it's saying.

Water/high heat/bend quickly worked for me, so that's what I'm going to do. In fact, if the sides he sends match the one I already bent into the cutaway, I'm going to use it.

Because for the next set of sides, maybe no water/low heat/bend slowly is what works best.

Or maybe it's what works on the West Coast, and my way works best on the East Coast.