Tim71 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Thought I'd post a new topic because many may benefit and at least be entertained. There is a ton of great information on the older threads on this board pertaining to bending. I still go back sometimes and see how that some of the greats were having goals like bending the blue nail and such. The training methods used now are great; no doubt about it but with all things historical, you can learn little tidbits from the past. Volume work used to be a huge part of training bending, For instance, how many of you knew that Greg Amidon and Dave Morton each bent 100 red nails in a single session? I believe that was to better their record of 50 and their hands were tore up. Use the search function and check it out. How may knew that John Brookfield bend a whole 50 pound box of 60ds once for time to get a world record? I think it took a couple hours or so. I got in on the end of that stage of the game so as was mentioned in another thread, I probably didn't start out the same was as somebody who started in the last few years. It's easy for me to take that for granted and forget about that when I might give advise to today's batch of benders. It really is entertaining to look back at some of the older stuff though and I'd advise anybody who wants to learn to check it out. If nothing else, it gives you a great perspective on how far things have come. Also, it's great to look back to when Steve McGranahan, Pat Povalaitis and others were on here. Ben Edwards, Eric Milfeld, Aaron C, Gazza, all these guys used to be active on here. Pat P's user name was terminator, Steve McGranahan's was Big Steve. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Great post, Tim! I second what you said about recommending new benders (and accomplished) go back and search through the old topics and see where some of the elite benders were 10 years ago. Not only where we (elite benders) were, but what we did to drag ourselves out of whatever plateau we found ourselves stuck on. Over the years, I have received a tremendous amount of help from some terrific benders. Eric Milfeld, Mike Hadland, Gary Hunt, Greg Amidon, Dave Morton, Tim Tolbert, Aaron Corcorran, Josh Dale, Travis Mickelberry, John Beatty, David Wigren, Mike Rinderle, Chuck Carns, Scott Harris, and there are more I will think of after logging off. No offense intended to anyone that I left off this short list. Many guys inspired me to get stronger, encouraged me to get stronger, prodded me to get stronger, and a few even made fun of me. It all helped me push through bending barriers that I really thought were going to be the end of the journey. I don't visit the bending forum much these days. But there was a time that I was on here all the time. These past few years it's been crazy how many elite benders have seemingly sprung up in a relatively short amount of time. I went a year or more without visiting the bending forum and was pleasantly surprised to read about some of the bending exploits of guys like J.T., E.J., and a bunch more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim71 Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 There was another guy who wasn't really active on this website but whenever he did bend he could kill some serious steel. Was it Dave Thornton? Ben, wasn't he the guy who bent Don Larkin's 80d unbraced and started it in a very difficult style? Like I said, I still like to go back to the years before I was on here and check out the posts. Go back to the beginning of this board and I remember one thread where everybody was actually trying to figure out who all the G5 benders in the world were. There was only a handful because the bending was all done in hand towels and started either underhand or some form of reverse Ahh, the memories. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 There was another guy who wasn't really active on this website but whenever he did bend he could kill some serious steel. Was it Dave Thornton? Ben, wasn't he the guy who bent Don Larkin's 80d unbraced and started it in a very difficult style? Like I said, I still like to go back to the years before I was on here and check out the posts. Go back to the beginning of this board and I remember one thread where everybody was actually trying to figure out who all the G5 benders in the world were. There was only a handful because the bending was all done in hand towels and started either underhand or some form of reverse Ahh, the memories. Yeah, Dave was a monster bender. Just didn't train it much, as far as I know. Bob Lipinski was another guy who helped me out. Forgot to mention him. Jedd Johnson is another super obvious name that I somehow brain-farted off my list. John Eaton is yet another... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim71 Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Bob Lipinski is the one who turned me on to Don Larkin. I got to have a couple email chats with Don and I've even got a square spike that he bent in my collection now. Don requested and received some of my bent pieces for his gym wall which is one of the biggest honors I've had. Tons of good information to learn from in the older posts. Remember Tom Black? He was a little before my time but it was his website or Terry Duty's website that lead me to the gripboard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Pizzo Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Here is a video of Don Larkin I thought would go well with the discussion. I think its pretty darn awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim71 Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Thanks for posting that. Don is awesome and a great guy all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Bob Lipinski is the one who turned me on to Don Larkin. I got to have a couple email chats with Don and I've even got a square spike that he bent in my collection now. Don requested and received some of my bent pieces for his gym wall which is one of the biggest honors I've had. Tons of good information to learn from in the older posts. Remember Tom Black? He was a little before my time but it was his website or Terry Duty's website that lead me to the gripboard. Yeah, I remember Tom and Terry! Both names I would've put on my original list if they would've popped into my head. And "bender" - Eric Godfrey? Also Big Steve McGranahan. We chatted by e-mail for a while about bending after the Backyard Bastard Bash that he was in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alawadhi Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Nice topic Tim! It's really nice to look in the past and see where we were and where are we heading. Dave Ostlund and his style still amazes many people. Hard yet easily he bent a red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim71 Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 That's right he did. He also bent a larger size drill rod in that extremely difficult underhand style he used. I remember too he just folded the pads over the bar. Didn't wrap them at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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