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Steelbending


Guest woody36

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Spurred on this week after a short layoff by Mr B's

bar bending methods,i've just bought some more 16mm

diameter bar.I had to settle for HR because they had no

CR in stock of the diameter i wanted,and since it's a

few weeks since i bent a big bar i wasn't sure i could

do it.Of the six pieces i've got one was longer by about

5 inches i haven't measured it properly but i'm guessing

it's round 45"in length,i've just bent it into a U shape

in round about 20-25 seconds with a pause to complete

bend with other arm,this is extremely fast for me.

Technically mine  may not be the best way of bending a

bar but it gets the job done,and on this width of bar

any bend is a good one.I also bought some 6mm dia bar

and bent two 7"pieces taped together,i have 6M of the

stuff so i'm going to try get down to  6" for the two

cutting bits of here and there.

Took a drawing of a grip machine similar design to the

one on Sullivan strongman juggler site but bigger,to a

steel fabricators near where i live and he made it up

for me at a cost of 30 pounds.All i did was take the

basic design,but used box steel and it's a great little

piece of equipment.I'm going to get a pinch block made.

It pays to ask.

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Day after one of the most horrific acts of terrorism ever,

still can't comprehend what i've seen on the news.

Thankfully one of our own Steve Weiner is ok physically,

mentally i would imagine the scars will never heal.

My best wishes go out to Steve and family,indeed to

anybody involved in this quite unimaginable tragedy.

Bent two pieces of HRS -5-3/4 inches x 6mm diameter

taped together.

 6-1/2 inches x6mm dia- into S-shape.

 The events of yesterday Unbelievable!

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Although i shouldn't have i had a go at bending

some more steel yesterday,i realised after i posted

the other day that i've already bent a couple of

pieces of 6mm bar plus a 4mm bar together.I'd

forgotten about this because i'd thrown it in my

bucket that i keep various bits in,anywho i tried to

bend 3 pieces of 8"x 6mm diameter bar taped side by

side.And am glad to say put a 1/4" bend in them,this

doesn't sound a lot but is a decent kink in the bar,had

i recovered more i was left wondering if i could have

gotten to the sticking point.

tested piece of 8"bar after,gave way slightly 80kg,

i also bought a 5mm diameter CR bar i'm going to

try 3 pieces also let you know how i get on?

added to oiginal post

3 pieces 7"x5mm bent into V shape

piece of 7"gave out at around 70kg

(Edited by woody36 at 5:12 am on Sep. 14, 2001)

(Edited by woody36 at 5:26 am on Sep. 14, 2001)

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Cut two pieces of HRS to 5-1/2 inches x 6mm diameter,

taped them together and managed to bend into V .

It took over 5 minutes to do so,initial bend ok but the

fight to the sticking point and beyond was a bitch.

Between attempts my hands were shaking and in

quite a bit of pain,my Ironmind Red's should be here

sometime this week nearly ten weeks after i ordered

them,i'm looking forward to getting them even though

i have no chance of denting one.

But i can at least have a try :wink:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest woody36

After my failure at denting the RED a great depression

hung over my shoulders,and i began to question

whether i would be any good at bending the Steel.

And i began trolling through old Blacklogs and came

upon the story of Tom relating how it took him 6 months

to bend a 60d nail and thinking how easy it would have

been for him to give up,this helped me put things into

focus,you don't just come along and hope to dent the

Ironmind RED.

Today i made my best bend to date!

7"x 6mm Cold Rolled Steel, bent into an S shape!

This was a full S not a squiggle,it took about 10 mins

to do it and i only managed it after i put gloves on

instead of my usual cloth padding.

First bend measured from top of bend was 2-5/8 inches,

second bend from top was 2-1/4 inches,which is

probably why it took so long to finish the bend.

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He failed in business in '31

He was defeated for state legislator in '32

He tried another business in '33. It failed.

His fiancée died in '35

He had a nervous breakdown in '36

In '43 he ran for congress and was defeated.

He tried again in '48 and was defeated again.

He tried running for senate in '55. He lost.

The next year he ran for Vice president and lost.

In '58 he ran for senate again and was defeated again.

Finally, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.

Failure is only absolute when you give up.

This has nothing to do with grip training, but it does go to show what determination will do.  Just thought I'd share that.  :)

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Guest woody36

Bent two pieces of 7"x 1/4" diameter steel, one CRS,

the other HRS taped together.

instead of turning the steel over after the sticking

point as i usually do to finish the crushing bend,i instead

crushed in the upright position for as long as i could

getting it to about three inches from closure.

Good bend overall, quite pleased!

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Woody,

   I’ve been meaning to congratulate you on some of your recent bends.   The 7"x 6mm  “S-Shaped” cold Rolled steel and now the above combination bend are awesome.  I also am very honored that you have used my Logs for some of your motivation, especially since at your high level of bending you probably don’t need my help anymore.  The 6 months to bend my first 60-penny was a very long time, with my knowledge now I could do it much sooner.  Compared to today, I was very alone in my grip training.  I really had no one to bounce ideas off of, to comment on what I was doing and give me meaningful suggestions.  I had only one brief article by Brookfield on nail bending in Milo as inspiration.  Since that article did not really focus on technique I trudged onward, trying every conceivable way to bend the nail.  I used the same nail for 6-months, and the amount of energy I expended on it is almost funny now that I think about it.

   The Red bar is really out there.  I cannot estimate the poundage needed for your CRS and HRS combination, I have never had the 6mm size for testing.  It must be very high, and yet you cannot even kink the Red.  Your example shows just how difficult it is to bend the Red.  I loaded every plate that I had on my standard loading pin, even jamming some 10-pound plates between the lower plates (not secured by the pin).  Still, I could only kink the Red by using it as a “handle” and picking up the pin with the bar through the eye.  Hand pain also became a factor, and the test itself almost became a feat of strength.

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Guest woody36

Tom,

       I'm a car driver,you're the mechanic!

My bends seem good on paper,but i'm not convinced

they are that good in reality?when i sent for the RED

i think i was expecting some kind of different steel to

the 8mm bar i already had.You see over here we call

CRS, cold drawn or cold reduced,and i wasn't sure it

was the same thing although i was assured it was.

If i could have been sure i would not have sent for

the RED,because i had already tried the 8mm and could

only kink a piece of ten inches in length.Regarding the

S bend it is definately technique over strength im my case,and took a long time to do mainly due to hand

adjustment and trying to figure out the best way to go

about it.I've done three S bends now and the CRS is

a whole new ball game.

I/We have been lucky that your passing on the

knowledge of your experiences with the Steel,it

really does have a positive effect on all who Bend here.

Thankyou for the compliments Tom very

much appreciated.

Just managed two pieces at 6-1/2 inches.

Tom, do you know why CRS seems to

bend in a tighter arch,giving more of a V

shaped appearance on shorter pieces.

Whereas HRS seems more of a circular

arch, or is it just me?

The reason i ask is that bending the two

types together,because one has a greater

arc it appears as though they were bent

separately,(they weren't by the way )

and then taped together.

Any ideas?

(Edited by woody36 at 8:55 am on Oct. 12, 2001)

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It might be that the crs only bends at the point where the stress is the maximum... the hrs (being weaker) might bend around the entire fulcrum- in my case, my thumb. just a thought though...

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 AP, that sounds about right.  Thickness makes a difference too, with the thicker creating a little more rounded bend.  Being an Electrical Engineer I was sleeping during material science, but in my subconscious learning mode I seem to remember that stronger steel is more brittle.  I once tried to bend a file, and it simply snapped.  Consider this as very tempered steel, and it is a perfect "V" bend.  Hence, as the steel goes from the highly tempered, and brittle, file to the hot rolled it would go from a perfect "V" to a perfect "U"

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Guest woody36

Tom,

    just read your Black log refering how The Atom

bent steel,because i bend most of my steel in a seated

position i find my hands gravitate to just under my

chin on harder pieces of steel.I always thought of it

as a cheating movement even though no contact is

made with the chin at any time,it justs puts me in a

tighter position.This as made my day knowing i've

instinctively stumbled on something that one of the

all time greats used to do.!

Also thanks for answering my question,you too AP.

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Guest woody36

Taped two pieces of 6 inch steel together,

one CRS, one HRS and succeeded in bending

them.This took quite awhile mainly because i trained

yesterday and was still feeling the effects.

Also bent a 5 inch piece of CRS that was left over from

a 1m length,i'll have to get some more as this has

been hard to find in the past.

Still making progress which is good.

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Guest woody36

Cut a piece of 1/4"diameter CRS to 6-1/2 inches in

length and tried to S-shape it. After some serious

wrestling i only managed to bend it into a ? mark shape,

feeling annoyed i threw it into my rejects pile and left

it. Later on in the evening i looked at it again and

decided i wasn't going to let it beat me that easy,

and finished the bend to completion.Although this was

technically not a good bend,i felt great satisfaction

on at least being able to bend it regardless of how

long it eventually took.

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Guest 77-1005097254

I bent a 6"nail into an "S" type shape last night, and to say I was pleased is an understatement! It took me half an hour, and I was dripping in sweat by the end and my index finger of my left hand is still numb today. I have just started nail bending again recently after being sidetracked by the grippers for the last couple of years.

I'm no expert on nail strengths but the 6"nails I bought from a local store (Homebase) a while back were very hard to bend, but the ones I bought recently seem medium hard to me. I have managed so far to bend one with with 1" cut off and another with, an inch and a quarter cut off. I had a few of the tougher nails left and have so far bent one with 1"cut off. I'm a long way from matching John Brookfield, Tom Black or Woody, but I enjoy breaking personal bests.

I'll try and get Ironminds bag of Nails to gauge  my progress better. Something else I've learnt is that you have to have a high tolerance to pain to bend nails.

But as they say NO PAIN NO GAIN.

Cheers Michael.

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on tues i had my first go at a 60 d nail... it was pretty tough but i almost (so close) got it. i just needed a little more before i could crush it down but i am very pleased. i am especialy happy (or unhappy) because i accidentaly bent it quite a bit off center... regardless, next time i get my hands on a fresh nail it will be done for...

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Michael,

    Your observation about the large difference in nail strengths is correct.  I have done tests in which I hang weight off the center of steel bars/nails via a loading pin and handle, and have tested 60 penny nails from about 250 to 340 pounds to bend ¼” (see article on my web site).   I seem to remember John Brookfield giving a range of 250 plus or minus 100, but I have never encountered a 60-penny of 150 or even 200.  He may be referring to pole barn nails, which seem to be around 200 (but the ones I have break, not bend).   I have one 50-pound box of 60-pennies and the nails in that box vary around 20-pounds to bend.  This can be frustrating when I’m having a bad day, or if I’ve cut off a length of one of the harder ones, and try to bend it.  One thing that happens mentally too me, and judging by Woody’s posts, the same thing happens, is that if I bend the nail a significant amount (e.g. 1”) to start, then I simply won’t give up, and will finish it off.   This is exactly the attitude I recognized when talking to Slim Farman, and recently Vic Boff who related that the Mighty Atom would do the same thing.  Keep up the good work guys, some of your bends are really impressive.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest woody36

Twice this week i tried to bend two pieces of HRS

into an S-shape. First attempt was with 2 pieces 8" in

length,which i managed to bend into a ?mark shape.

I couldn't get the full bend mainly because my right

forearm was hurting and no matter how much i gave

it i couldn't complete the bend.

Round two!, i figured since i couldn't do 8 inch i would

try 2 pieces at 9" thinking i would have more leverage.

Not the case,i fared worse with the longer pieces

making me wonder if a rest is now needed.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest woody36

Slowly but surely my confidence is coming back!

although i still feel like crap.

Tried to bend a piece of CRS-4-1/2"x1/4"diameter, Failed!

 but put a quarter inch kink in it which was ok considering

 i haven't been feeling myself (i now get someone in to do

 it for me) anywho this spurred me on to try a 4-3/4"piece

 and i'm glad to say this gave way.

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