Tom Black Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 I just posted a new Black Log on the Grippage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldy Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 Tom, impressive as always. I fully appreciate the strength you posess in levering ever since I levered an 8 lb sledge overhead to my nose, because I went up to 10.5 and could hardly slow it down. Keep up the good work, you might just meet that goal of catching Slim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woody36 Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 Tom, Fantastic lever! Very envious,you have such a variety of nails and other objects to bend. Tom were the spiral nails harder than the 6"spirals you've bent previously,given the length. Regards Ray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted January 19, 2002 Author Share Posted January 19, 2002 I wish I wasn't so behind in the log, the next week I did the 18.5 pounds again, and even took a blurry picture. I ended up hurting my shoulder and it hasn't been the same since. Only today did I once again do the full rep of the 16-pound hammer, which isn't bad after my winter vacation to put up this kind of weight. As far as the picture, I was holding the 18.5 pounds steady, but the picture was taken at 1/15 of a second, which is way too slow. With my new camera it ultimately will take a better picture than my old, but I need to set it up properly and force it to go off in the manual mode at above 1/100 of a second for a sharper picture. Sadly, I'm not up to the 18.5 pounds again for a couple of weeks to fix the error I made in taking the picture. The nails Roark sent me were easier than the typical 1/4"x6" spiral nails, that is why I could almost bend the two of them together. They were maybe 3/16" thick, and kind of springy, also 9" long ( I think I forgot to mention that in the log). They were harder than you would expect for such a thin piece of steel of that length, maybe they were slightly tempered, I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woody36 Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 Tom, you did mention the length,but not the diameter. The levering is very impressive,as those of us who have tried it will testify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 Here is the rest of the story (Tom is too humble): The nails I sent him were the type some roofer friends gave me, and one of the roofers has VERY strong hands for a non-lifter. No one at work would shake hands with him if they knew that it was for a grip 'showdown'. He never lost. Well, he tried to bend one of these nails and it remained straighter than a laser beam. I tried to bend one and may as well have tried to bend a dumbell bar. I taped them together when I mailed them to Tom, simply for ease of packaging, and so that there was less chance of piercing the wrapping. So Tom receives them, and the email he sends me is something like: "You're kidding, right?" My first impression from that was that hey, if Tom can't bend them, then I have nothing to be distraught about. Well, as he soon explained, what he meant was that I must have been kidding because they were so easy. NOW there was room for distraught. I do not bend metal, the metal and I have an agreement about that: I yield, it doesn't. But what Tom managed to do with those two nails impressed me. And discouraged me enough to renew my agreement... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted January 19, 2002 Author Share Posted January 19, 2002 It's hard to really measure the thickness of these spiral nails, they are thicker in some points than others. These particular ones are definitely less than 1/4". I was taking to someone the other day who witnessed my show last year and he said that the nails I bent looked for easy and he didn't understand how hard they were to bend, but he understood the sledgehammer, and how difficult it was. On the other hand, I've talked to people who didn't have a clue about the sledgehammer. Usually these people, when simply picking up a 16-pound sledge (no levering at all) will get the idea real quick that it is hard. Roark, thanks for your discussion of the nails. It seems weird too me that the man you described could not bend these things. I still haven't seen this type of nail for sale in Lowe's or Home Depot. I'd like to try bending them together again. I think I held back a little when I tried the double bend because of the unknown factors when first trying a particular piece of steel. If the steel breaks, instead of bends, then it would have been dangerous if it was at full force. Now that I know that they bend smoothly I could give the double bend a real shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AP Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Tom, levering sledgehammers is mostly about wrist strength but your shoulder has to take alot of strain to hold the hammer out also. have you ever tried supporting your wrist on a bench or a rack at shoulder height? you could almost specialize in wrist levering and then use dumbell crusifix holds to strengthen your shoulders... i haven't done a lot of levering but i guess when i read the black logs i can't help but cheer you on for those extra pounds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woody36 Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Tom, Here's one to add to your list of things to do! http://www.inspiredmind.com/health/positive_focus.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted January 20, 2002 Author Share Posted January 20, 2002 AP, That's a good idea about supporting my hand, especially since I did injury my shoulder with the 18.5 pounds. Most of the time, however, the weight has not been a factor on my shoulder, I think I just dropped the weight too fast and the momentum did me in. I've experimented with crucifix holds for shoulder strength on the hammer lift and had no problems with 30 or 35 pounds so the 20 pounds (total weight of head and handle) is minor compared to my crucifix lift. I can not figure out exactly what Noel Batten is doing to that piece of steel. It looks like two pieces of steel in the picture, one looks straight and the other looks like a bow tie bend around the straight piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woody36 Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Tom, it's a bad pic, but it's one piece of steel. Follow the end held in his left hand and it's curled in a long loop underneath him, and then bent around again allowing the short end to be tucked back into the loop. A slightly off side view would have been better. Regards Ray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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