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Bending Advice?


RuggedCanuck

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I'm finding 3/16 bends easy, but a 1/4 grade 2 bolt is more problematic. From what I understand the grade 2 bolts are the easiest type.

I'm obviously new at this, and there may be more things I need to work on, but I believe I am using a good technique. So is it fair to say that I just need more practice? Having an off day? etc.

Any more advice moving forward that anyone cares to offer would be helpful.

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Grade 2 bolts are very easy to bend. Every once-in-awhile, you might find a tough one or a mutant grade 2, which bends more like an easy grade 5. What kind of wraps are you using? What style (DO/DU/reverse)?

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Grade 2 bolts are very easy to bend. Every once-in-awhile, you might find a tough one or a mutant grade 2, which bends more like an easy grade 5. What kind of wraps are you using? What style (DO/DU/reverse)?

I thought it was odd...

I've been using a few leather gloves cut up for wrapping and a DO style. Maybe a different style might work?

I'm not the strongest man on earth, but it seems like a grade 2 should be a lot easier.

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Make sure you get a tight wrap. Depending upon how thick the leather is, it might be tough to do this. And you might get some movement before and as you attempt the kink, which will make it a ton more difficult. Try to pick up some 40ds if you can ... and more grade 2s if available. If you can, get some Ironmind wraps. They are the best all-around wraps IMO.

There is nothing wrong with DO, but it takes many people upwards of half-a-year before they become flexible enough to get a proper starting position. If you stick with 3/16" square, 1/4 x 6" grade 2s and 40ds until you are smashing them routine, you can't go wrong. Or comparable drill rod at a slightly less diameter.

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Make sure you get a tight wrap. Depending upon how thick the leather is, it might be tough to do this. And you might get some movement before and as you attempt the kink, which will make it a ton more difficult. Try to pick up some 40ds if you can ... and more grade 2s if available. If you can, get some Ironmind wraps. They are the best all-around wraps IMO.

There is nothing wrong with DO, but it takes many people upwards of half-a-year before they become flexible enough to get a proper starting position. If you stick with 3/16" square, 1/4 x 6" grade 2s and 40ds until you are smashing them routine, you can't go wrong. Or comparable drill rod at a slightly less diameter.

Might be the tightness of the wraps. They're not ideal, but until I get some good ones it's better than nothing.

Thanks for the tips. I'll probably try out a different grade 2 later on - I cannot believe it would be beyond my ability right now.

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You should post a video of yourself warping and bending. The advice will be a lot better if we can see exactly what your doing.

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You should post a video of yourself warping and bending. The advice will be a lot better if we can see exactly what your doing.

I don't have access to a camera at the moment, but that's a good call.

Just two seconds ago I managed to get that grade 2 using a Terminator-style bend. Actually, it was far easier than DO. Maybe I just needed an adjustment.

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You should post a video of yourself warping and bending. The advice will be a lot better if we can see exactly what your doing.

I don't have access to a camera at the moment, but that's a good call.

Just two seconds ago I managed to get that grade 2 using a Terminator-style bend. Actually, it was far easier than DO. Maybe I just needed an adjustment.

Yeah it would be really worth wild for you to post a video.

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A grade 2 bolt is not something everybody in the world can bend. Years ago, I took my wraps and an assortment of steel to test some guys. 1/4 inch HRS stopped a few and 1/4 inch grade 2 bolts stopped pretty much all of them.

3/16 square and 1/4 A36 hot rolled steel (real hot rolled) is a good bridge to the grade 2 bolts. Also, some of the 60d timber ties are slightly easier than grade 2 bolts.

Tight wraps and chalk are 2 of the best things that ever happened to me as well. You don't realize how much power you lose through perspiration and loose wraps.

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Thanks everybody.

I have an assortment of 60D nails, but no spirals. I believe that with some more grip-specific training and practice grade 2s should be no problem. Using the reverse style made things a lot easier as well.

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The problem with reverse is you WILL hit a wall and platue fast. That style is very very slow moving. It will take years to bend a Red Nail. When I was bending g2 barehand the reverse style worked the best for me. But with wraps either DO or DU worked great. Eventually DU strength stopped and I focused on DO. And I've made pretty decent gains bending DO.

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Hey EJ and Mike,

On Benders Battlefield there was a good technic video on DO.

Does one of the "old" Battlefielder´s have that link around somewhere?

That video was awesome for technic advise, i think. That would help also.

Thanks :)

Edited by Thomas-Austria
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Hey EJ and Mike,

On Benders Battlefield there was a good technic video on DO.

Does one of the "old" Battlefielder´s have that link around somewhere?

That video was awesome for technic advise, i think. That would help also.

Thanks :)

Here ya go bud. This is by far the best video. Sean Cashman put a lot of time into this.

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A grade 2 bolt is not something everybody in the world can bend. Years ago, I took my wraps and an assortment of steel to test some guys. 1/4 inch HRS stopped a few and 1/4 inch grade 2 bolts stopped pretty much all of them.

3/16 square and 1/4 A36 hot rolled steel (real hot rolled) is a good bridge to the grade 2 bolts. Also, some of the 60d timber ties are slightly easier than grade 2 bolts.

Tight wraps and chalk are 2 of the best things that ever happened to me as well. You don't realize how much power you lose through perspiration and loose wraps.

I too have had some people I know try bending a grade 2 bolt Double Overhand and all so far have failed.

I wrapped the bolts and coached them through proper DO technique but they have all failed on the kink. If I kink the bolt for them first then they can finish the bend off somewhat easily. These are all fairly strong guys with some weight training experience as well as manual labor experience.

I also had them try bending the bolt reverse but no one could even wobble a grade 2 reverse style (some of the bolts that were tried DO got a very small amount of movement).

On a similar note: I've had much more success letting people try my #2 gripper. I've had 5 or 6 guys I've worked with over the years be able to close it, and I've had 2 of those guys be able to do reps with it. One of the guys that repped it had no weight training experience of any kind (according to him). I would have guessed that more people would have been stopped by that gripper and less by the grade 2 bolt!

Note: None of the #2 closers tried bending (I wasn't into bending then and I haven't worked with any of them in many years), but I'm sure some or most of them would be able to bend that bolt and likely much harder ones as well. But I guess I'll never know for sure!

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A grade 2 bolt is not something everybody in the world can bend. Years ago, I took my wraps and an assortment of steel to test some guys. 1/4 inch HRS stopped a few and 1/4 inch grade 2 bolts stopped pretty much all of them.

3/16 square and 1/4 A36 hot rolled steel (real hot rolled) is a good bridge to the grade 2 bolts. Also, some of the 60d timber ties are slightly easier than grade 2 bolts.

Tight wraps and chalk are 2 of the best things that ever happened to me as well. You don't realize how much power you lose through perspiration and loose wraps.

I too have had some people I know try bending a grade 2 bolt Double Overhand and all so far have failed.

I wrapped the bolts and coached them through proper DO technique but they have all failed on the kink. If I kink the bolt for them first then they can finish the bend off somewhat easily. These are all fairly strong guys with some weight training experience as well as manual labor experience.

I also had them try bending the bolt reverse but no one could even wobble a grade 2 reverse style (some of the bolts that were tried DO got a very small amount of movement).

On a similar note: I've had much more success letting people try my #2 gripper. I've had 5 or 6 guys I've worked with over the years be able to close it, and I've had 2 of those guys be able to do reps with it. One of the guys that repped it had no weight training experience of any kind (according to him). I would have guessed that more people would have been stopped by that gripper and less by the grade 2 bolt!

Note: None of the #2 closers tried bending (I wasn't into bending then and I haven't worked with any of them in many years), but I'm sure some or most of them would be able to bend that bolt and likely much harder ones as well. But I guess I'll never know for sure!

Not to sound like bragging but I melted all grade 2 bolts I had when I first tried bending Frank. They didn't even slow me down. Same with all the timber ties. So there are ppl out there who have a good strength base who have the tools to roll through those.

First I did some in towels and they were a little harder than when I got the imp wraps. So I recommend to the op to buy imp pads.

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Some more dedicated wraps are definitely on my to-do list. Pretty sure I have the strength base to be sticking with 1/4 stock once I hone in my technique.

What do you guys think about vertical bending? I'd like to work with some style that requires more wrist and hand strength alone, even if it makes my progress slower.

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A friend and me have been bending for about 8 years(although I only bend occasionally now), at first it was 60ds in an old rag as a party trick, then we got some ironmind pads and started with high volume. Once a week 20 to 50 nails in a session in every different way. It really conditioned the hands, in those sessions I would hit 2-5 pieces of bigger steel grade 5 1/4 bolts, 1/4 square etc. As we got into bigger steel I switched to leathers. Once grade 5s became easier I'd warm up with 60ds, then a few grade 5s and then onto 1-3 bends of whatever bigger stock we had. Reds, Hex, stainless (all 5/16)

We also used to drink beer while bending, used to numb the hands on those high volume days

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  • 2 weeks later...
Not to sound like bragging but I melted all grade 2 bolts I had when I first tried bending Frank. They didn't even slow me down.

Doesn't surprise me!...I don't think your bragging, just stating facts.

They didn't stop me either, neither did a grade 5, or grade 8, but both you and I have benched well over 300lbs at some point in our lives which I believe has decent carryover to Double Overhand bending...but I could be wrong....I'm sure there are other factors at play as well.

It's just been my observation that people I work with, with decent levels of strength have failed at that particular feat when I've let them try.

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