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Coin Bending


Martin

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Has anyone ever seen Mike Dayton or anyone else for that matter perform the coin bend?

In the book Muscle Blasting by Kennedy there is a brief description of the technique but no pictures.

One wonders how much force would actually be required to do this. I know it was a favourite of some of the old time strongmen but a few may have faked it for the stage.

I'm new here so for all I know six members will show me video evidence that they can bend coins :)

If anyone can I would love to see the pictures though.

Martin

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I can't imagine somebody bending a new quarter or even any modern US coin. An older bigger coin maybe, but a new quarter would be an AMAZING feat.

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Try to bend 2 euro coin, that's bending strenght :rock:laugh

Edited by DuTCH
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I remember an OLD article in Ironman (Late 70s/Early 80s) about M Dayton. They mentioned bending quarters. But no technique details etc.

They also mentioned that he had some sort of record for destroying a piano. I'd love to see a video of that.

T!

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One wonders how much force would actually be required to do this. I know it was a favourite of some of the old time strongmen but a few may have faked it for the stage.

The new coins of today are IMPOSSIBLE to bend. Towards the end of the century, there were coins that those special few strongmen could bend. But that was back a long, long time ago.

If someone tells you that they can bend or even break coins with their bare hands... look for an exit - quick. :rolleyes

Mike Dayton gets a lot of credit for stuff I don't even think he has done. He has broken handcuffs and even has credit for bending a rifle barrel, but coin bending?? :whistel

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Whose the other guy that always gets credit for coin bending? Actually, supposedly he can tear quarters in half. He's been in a couple of movies but it wasn't for his coin bending/tearing. He is buddies with Robert Duval. I thought I read somewhere that it's really a sleight of hand trick and that he switches the quarters with doctored ones but he was such a nice guy, that the guy that figured it out didn't want to expose him. I've seen his pictures and he does have some THICK hands and fingers but no human is going to legitimately tear a quarter in half

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What about poker chips? I think that might be possible. I've heard it's below a 50 cent coin in difficulty. 50 cent coins might be bendable, would you all consider them "modern" coins? It's hard to tell, but if I were to guess by looking at the metal, they are not as tough as a new quarter even if a quarter was the same size.

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I thought the "nice" poker chips or the kind they use in casinos, were clay?????

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Below is a quote from Dennis Weis's interview with Dayton. I can't find the inteview on his site anymore so I copied this from the pdf I have saved. Don Ross is featured in Kennedy's book that I mentioned before. The technique is layed out in the book as well as some training involving bottle tops. None of which makes a lot of sense :)

"Now, coin bending is another thing. I think there’s been several strong men

through time to bend coins. Eugene Sandow was one who bend foreign coins, not so

much the American coins, although the old American dime, in his time, was about

half the thickness of a dime nowadays. One of the first coins I started playing with

was that old dime that I realized I was able to bend easily. Bending coins, again, is

something that like anything else, you have to start off at some point and work your

way up. It’s a matter of constantly working at it. I worked years on developing

enough finger strength. Now, you don’t get any finger strength in weight lifting

because you’re exercise stops at the end of the hands. You never use the tips of your

fingers for anything. Now, the training I used came from Kung Fu, where they teach

you to develop finger strength which is different than any of your weight lifting. You

won’t get finger strength from weight lifting. You have to go out and do those, I call

them, the standard Kung Fu karate exercises for fingers. You do fingertip push ups.

You slam your finger into sand. You slam your finger into bark off of a tree that’s

put into a pail or something. A lot of it is just isometric finger tensing that they teach

you. We learned it in karate, actually. I think most, it would have to be in addition

to their normal workout to actually strengthen the hands. You need awfully strong

tendons through your elbows and your wrists too.

Currently, I’m training one other person, Don Ross, a Mr. America to bend coins.

He’s making real good progress with it. But, then again, I see it taking him at least a

year before he gets to the point where he can bend an American quarter.

I started off with different objects before I could bend coins. I didn’t start right off

bending off coins. I started off doing these little…they used to give them away in gas

stations, used to be called Shell, I don’t know, State of the Union. They looked like a

quarter, the exact size of a quarter but they’re made out of real thin aluminum and

they’d bend real easily. So, I started off bending those and I got up the point where I

could finally bend a dime. I’d have to do this by bending it over something, over a

table, over a sharp edge of something. I couldn’t just bend it in my hand free yet. I

had to bend it over tables. So, I developed a lot of different bending strength as far

as different ways to hold the coin. Then again, that’s something that’s just going to

take time for anybody to develop enough hand strength, finger strength to be able to

bend coins."

Edited by Martin
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Strength historian David Gentle who actually has

met Mike Dayton said he is capable of bending coins.

Hopefully there is a video out there somewhere for

the doubting gripsters.

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Call me crazy, but I think bending coins will become more common. The strength required to kink them is pretty high, but it seems like crushing them down (with a gripper at least) was kinda easy.

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this i would have to see....and the ripping of a coin i would never belive even with video. just imo

yes jad i belive you are correct...the good chips are clay. .........not clay edgin just "clay" lol

Edited by king crusher
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Clay composite chips (the non plastic ones most people use at home) are clay with a metal insert at the core. These were the kind I was refering to. Casinos make their own, with synthedic polymers, so as far as strength goes, those could all be completely unique.

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"I’d have to do this by bending it over something, over a table, over a sharp edge of something. I couldn’t just bend it in my hand free yet. I had to bend it over tables. So, I developed a lot of different bending strength as far as different ways to hold the coin. Then again, that’s something that’s just going to take time for anybody to develop enough hand strength, finger strength to be able to

bend coins."

Oh, so it's NOT like nail bending where you use both your hands and NO bracing by using any other object to assist in the bend. :rolleyes

Would you call that a legit coin bend? Sorry, but I wouldn't.

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I would let the actual coin benders determine what is legit.

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My curiosity was piqued, so I wrapped a modern U.S. penny in a piece of suede and bit down on the coin, and proceeded to push down on the other half of the penny with my fingertip. With great effort I managed to kink the Lincoln to the point where there's about 3/16" of air under the coin when it's lying on a table. The strain this placed on my teeth, finger, and even neck leads me to believe that bending a penny with fingers alone is impossible. Doing it braced with your teeth seems like a pretty impressive feat of strength, though. Though it's definitely not recommended by four out of five dentists. I would have tried harder to complete the bend, but I was starting to have visions of chipped teeth.

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A little update: the penny was taunting me. I just completed a full bend of the penny using my teeth. It looks really cool - just like a little copper taco!

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A little update: the penny was taunting me.  I just completed a full bend of the penny using my teeth.  It looks really cool - just like a little copper taco!

Ok not the kind of experiment I was hoping to encourage :) Very impressive though. Don't break any teeth!

In the book Muscleblasting the technique is described as using the left hand as the "vice" hand with the coin held flat between the thumb and index finger. The bend is done by pressing upward with the thumb of the other hand. So effectivly it's thumb against thumb which seems a bit much in terms of thumb strength. The exercises listed are bending bottle tops in the above manner, grippers, finger tip push ups and pinch grip pull ups. Of course no picture is provided.

Supposedly the book Feats of Strength and Dexterity and How to Perform Them by Charles MacMahon mentions coin bending in detail. I can't confirm this since ordering the reprint from Europe is a bit of a mission.

What are the differences in American quarters and how often have they been changed?

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WOW! Bent a penny in your teeth. Thats really impressive. I wouldnt do it though, it would cause alot of permenant wear and tear on your teeth, and im to weak to even try.

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I would let the actual coin benders determine what is legit.

Who would determine what is legit and what isn't?? Is there an organization of coin benders that I don't know about? What if I deemed myself a "coin bender" and I stuck a quarter up my butt and bent it! :blink Would THAT qualify as a "legit" bend? :dry

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People who can bend coins with their hands get to make the rules about bending coins with their hands.

People who can bend coins with their sphincters need to keep THAT video proof OFF the Gripboard! :laugh

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i second clay on this. hahaha a butt bend would be much more impressive i must say. lol

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Progress is the Key and loading.

You need to force or how pound does take to close a coin.

Copper coins, blank copper, and then what next.

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I purchased some old British pennies that are roughly the size of a half dollar but thinner. They are from the 1910's and 20's. I would throw one in an envelope if one of the more "qualified" guys out there wanted to give one a real shot and see. PM me. Personally, I think THEY are doable (if you were strong as hell) but I think a new quarter would be as near as impossible as you can get. Try one in a pair of pliers or a vice, still damn tough to bend. Tearing one? Gimme a break. :)

Didn't Stanless Steel warp a penny by beating it on a table or something at AOBS 2 or 3 years ago? Took like 5 min? Can anybody verify this having seen it and can give the details? I know last year he wasn't in condition to try :) His bar tab must have been up there :)

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