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First attempt at a scroll


Martin Gaisser

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Decided to give this a try cause I knew it would be one heck of a workout.  I bought the so called 1/2” x 36” hot rolled steel from Lowe’s.  It’s not like any hot rolled anything I’ve ever experienced.  It’s bright and has no scale whatsoever on it and is bad springy.  Feels like freakin cold rolled to me.  Tag says Hillman weld stl - rnd (h r).  Anyways I somehow got the dang thing about 4-5 inches off center when I was wrapping it around the back of my leg and screwed it all up.  I was wanting to bring the leg all the way around again and get a U with a coil in the center but I can’t figure out how to get it beyond this point other than hit the gym.  Lol. This has been just as much or more a challenge figuring out how to position it as it has been physically.  I have no idea if this is any good or not cause I’ve never done braced bending but it was fun and one heck of a workout. Lol. 

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I started scrolling 2 weeks ago. It is a hell of a workout. Pushing and pulling in different directions. I can feel it wearing out my tendons and my hands get sore from vise gripping the steel. I posted my first 3 scrolls recently. Lots of fun for sure. Someone just posted about that steel on Facebook and apparently that is not hot rolled steel. Have fun!

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To get the coil further you have to keep pushing down on both ends of the long bars with the coil braced on a leg or between legs until you get them past parallel and then you can finish that coil.

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Definitely not hot rolled! You can see from the way it bends: sharp turns instead of a nice even loop.

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4 minutes ago, Donc101 said:

I started scrolling 2 weeks ago. It is a hell of a workout. Pushing and pulling in different directions. I can feel it wearing out my tendons and my hands get sore from vise gripping the steel. I posted my first 3 scrolls recently. Lots of fun for sure. Someone just posted about that steel on Facebook and apparently that is not hot rolled steel. Have fun!

If it’s not hot rolled that sure makes me feel a lot better cause I was beating myself up for being weak.  😂

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Just now, Andrew Dube said:

Definitely not hot rolled! You can see from the way it bends: sharp turns instead of a nice even loop.

That’s one thing that had me puzzled because most coil looking bends I’ve seen seem to be a lot more open and rounded.  Thanks Andrew. 

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Best to find a local steel supplier. You'll know what you're getting plus it will be about 1/4 the price of the hardware store. I'd recommend starting with 1/2" round or 1/4"x1" flat at a minimum of 4ft long. Once you understand the different positions you'll be bending bigger stuff in no time! If you're interested I'll try and shoot a video of a basic double loop fish that passes through most of the important positions. I'd also recommend @Jedd Johnson steel scrolling DVD with Bud Jeffries. Great product that I used to get started!

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2 minutes ago, Andrew Dube said:

Best to find a local steel supplier. You'll know what you're getting plus it will be about 1/4 the price of the hardware store. I'd recommend starting with 1/2" round or 1/4"x1" flat at a minimum of 4ft long. Once you understand the different positions you'll be bending bigger stuff in no time! If you're interested I'll try and shoot a video of a basic double loop fish that passes through most of the important positions. I'd also recommend @Jedd Johnson steel scrolling DVD with Bud Jeffries. Great product that I used to get started!

Ok thanks a lot.  I know of a place nearby that sells 20ft lengths in most stuff.  I’ll have to grab me a piece in the next day or so.  

Yea I’d love to see the video too that would help me a lot.  Going in it blind had me scratching my head more than bending. Lol. 

Thanks again. 

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Not my best work but hopefully you'l find it helpful!

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56 minutes ago, Andrew Dube said:

Not my best work but hopefully you'l find it helpful!

Thanks a lot Andrew.  Yea some of the technique I was doing and some I wasn’t.  I never let my piece touch the floor just my body so that could definitely help me get those legs straightened out some more.  Every time I think I had it set good I’d apply pressure and it would twist or slip out of position once I got to where I’m at now.  What size metal are most people using to scroll with.  I know on a braced bend you want to cert on bigger and shorter is more impressive but didn’t know if most people looked at scrolling the same or is it just purely aesthetics. 

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Not sure what others think but to me, scrolling is distinctly non-competitive. I view it as an extremely physical creative outlet. I think it is a great supplement to the other styles of bending as it offers a great full body conditioning workout. Develops your pain tolerance too! I can easily spend an hour working on an 8 to 10 ft bar.  It's certainly a unique artistic medium as your ability to bring your vision to life is pretty limited by your strength. More advanced scrolls require lots of planning too so as not to paint yourself into a corner so to speak. My favorite bars to scroll are 3/8" square, 1/4" round, and 1/4"x3/4" flat bar. Though I've tried many others. I've made a lot of shitty scrolls too haha. 

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Look Up tony reid on facebook. They guy is a scrolling genius. I like the smaller stuff myself 5/16 and below. I sit down and let the steel sing 

Edited by KapMan
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2 minutes ago, Jlark27 said:

So this is scrolling....sweet! That looks like it hurt to bend. Good work ! I should try this sometime.

Yea it can be quite uncomfortable in some positions to say the least.  Lol  Thanks.  Yea you should give it a go its a crazy good workout and pretty fun.  You may even be able to tape up your injury and maybe put some leather gloves on and do some until you can do unbraced again.

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9 minutes ago, Jlark27 said:

I will. I think some gloves might help like you said..just for the scrolling. Luckly it doesnt hurt. Still, it cant be good. So ugly. Don't look

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Yea that’s a nice one there. Lol. I always popped any I got then tore all the skin away or clipped it off with nail clippers.  To me it seemed to make them heal quicker.  Every time I would get poison oak I would scratch it till it bleed then rubbed gasoline all in there good so I may not be the smartest when it comes to medical attention. Lol. 

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  • 1 month later...

Love some good scrolling. Did a couple small commissioned pieces and stopped working on it for a long time. 

 

Very enjoyable. 

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