Lyle Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 I finally found 3/16ths rods at a hardware store "remember I'm knew to this", cut them all to 5" to work on form and get comfortable, my question is , does the zinc coating have any effect? either weaken or strenghten the steel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamidon Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Most of the zinc coated stuff is on the easy side. All metal may vary but every single one I have tried was much easier than the CRS of the same dimension. A good example is a guy I know can do a 7" CRS and a 5.5" zinc of that same diameter. Hope this helps. Just keep plugging away and get your form down. You will get stronger and more explosive as you go. Good luck. Greg Amidon Edited January 11, 2005 by gamidon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyle Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 I know it's easier than the CRS, I was wondering if the zinc coating had any effect on the HRS underneath? sorry if I was unclear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyle Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) I also picked up 5/16th of the Zinc stuff, cut it to red nail lenght, I know it's easier than the red but man it seems awful far away..... one more thing? is all the Ironmind Bag of nails CRS or just the red? Edited January 11, 2005 by Lyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamidon Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) I dont know if the zinc plays much part in increasing or decreasing the strength of the bar. My guess would be no, it is a very thin layer at best. All IM bars are cold rolled steel. Check out http://www.fatbastardbarbellco.com/ I believe his 3/16" is about 30c per bar at any size you want and Ironmind is 40c per bar. The FBBC bars are cut nicer and slightly beveled too. Other places you can go to are local Metals Supermarkets if you have them, or the Home Depots/Lowes type stores. Get some bolt cutters and you are ready to go. Good luck, this bending is an addiction, once it takes hold it is hard to shake. Greg Edited January 11, 2005 by gamidon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyle Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 you hit the nail on the head with the addiction part, which sucks cause I've been focusing on an IM#3 cert now for about a year, but I went and bent a few odd pieces about a week ago, now I have a nice supply of 3/16th and 1/4" in lenghts of 7 and 6". also bent some 1/2" at 30" and 26", I can't stay away from the stuff. I checked out the fat Bastard site and am waiting on a quote to ship a bag to Nova Scotia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Edgin Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Randy told me that the original bag of nails sold years ago used to have 1/4" HRS for the white and green and 1/4" CRS for the yellow and blue. At some point they started going with some Turkish company for their HRS and it was crazy strong - much stronger than regular CRS. I have some of those original 1/4" x 5" HRS green nails that are tougher than a grade 5 to bend. Needless to say, I am keeping them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt. crushalot Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Gamidon, thanks for posting the fat bastard link. I noticed their announcements section said the price of steel is going up ......up to 100% increase. Any idea why? Does anyone have a place in their town that collects and recycles steel? Not that benders make up a large part of the steel market, but it still all adds up. Anything to keep costs down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamidon Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Gamidon, thanks for posting the fat bastard link.I noticed their announcements section said the price of steel is going up ......up to 100% increase. Any idea why? ← Cost of the raw steel is going through the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmainlands Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 I have some of those original 1/4" x 5" HRS green nails that are tougher than a grade 5 to bend. Needless to say, I am keeping them ← Clay, Is there a time when there is no one home at your house? Is there any security system? What is your exact address and where do you store your nails in the house anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyle Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 I agree the cost of steel over the last 2 years here in NS has really shot up, It's unreal, the 1/4" stock in 20' lenght is $3.91 "not bad" but I but steel for making equipment and implement and stuff like 1"round and Channel are outrageous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Beatty Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) I noticed their announcements section said the priceof steel is going up ......up to 100% increase. Any idea why? ← What I've been told is that scrap availability is down by more than 60% worldwide. China is the biggest scrap processor & literally can't get enough. So more iron ore must be processed which is much more costly than melting & re-using scrap. Small stuff like the bending stock hasn't gone up much, but the tubing & solid stock has gone up an enormous amount. Steel is basically sold by the pound, so a 1/4" x 12' bar doesn't cost too much. Buy a 3" x 12' bar.....ouch. Last time it was well over $400. I used to get it for $180. Edited January 11, 2005 by John Beatty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Most places will only give a price quote good for a few days at a time , if that. Some stuff if 2 and 1/2 times higher than 12 to 18 months ago, smaller stock has only doubled. And it's still going up, up, and up. If you know what you need and have the money, buy it now. And find a scrap yard that you can dig thru and buy by the pound. Sometimes it's hard to find what you need there but you can save a bunch of money if you get lucky. The scrap yard near me is small, maybe you'll have better luck if it's bigger. I found some copper wire a while back that while bigger around, felt like an IM Yellow to Blue or so. Picked it up for almost nothing. I just priced the stuff to make a fat bar and it ain't purty guys. Expect price increase from about all the people making equipment as their stock goes down and they have to resuppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt. crushalot Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Thanks John and guys for the posts. It almost sounds like steel is becoming a precious metal. Just got a new investment idea..... dump the gold and buy steel. If only I had some money to invest. Will it get to the point were we will need to keep straightening and rebending the same piece of steel just to get our money's worth out of it. Then we will only discard it when it breaks. Hopefully like you guys say..... maybe the smaller pieces of steel will continue to still stay at a reasonable price. The best of bending to you all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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