New To Bending...

[QuietSet]

I read the Newbie thread at the top, but I was hoping for a couple more suggestions. There were a couple of suggestions in that thread of buying a 3' or 4' bar (I think 3/16" was suggested, or maybe 5/16") and cutting it down into pieces to bend. Well, what should I do if I am not able to come across one of these bars? For someone who is completely new to bending, and pretty much new to grip training in general, are there any bolts or nails that I could start off with instead? I dont know what I'm capable of, but since bolts are fairly cheap should I just go buy a few sizes and see where I'm at or what? Where should I start? If it makes any difference, I'll probably be bending DU because I'm doing this to increase my wrist strength for armwrestling and I think DU will help with the toproll the most, which is how I pull most often.

Also, what is a normal price for one of those 3' or 4' bars of round stock? If I do find one I dont want to get jipped on the price.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Edited March 19, 2007 by QuietSet

[maximus1]

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtop...9&hl=buying

[dimmers]

I read the Newbie thread at the top, but I was hoping for a couple more suggestions. There were a couple of suggestions in that thread of buying a 3' or 4' bar (I think 3/16" was suggested, or maybe 5/16") and cutting it down into pieces to bend. Well, what should I do if I am not able to come across one of these bars? For someone who is completely new to bending, and pretty much new to grip training in general, are there any bolts or nails that I could start off with instead? I dont know what I'm capable of, but since bolts are fairly cheap should I just go buy a few sizes and see where I'm at or what? Where should I start? If it makes any difference, I'll probably be bending DU because I'm doing this to increase my wrist strength for armwrestling and I think DU will help with the toproll the most, which is how I pull most often.

Also, what is a normal price for one of those 3' or 4' bars of round stock? If I do find one I dont want to get jipped on the price.

Thanks for any suggestions.

If you're after wrist strength then i'd recommend buying yourself a sledge hammer and start levering! 6lb sledge is a good place to start if you've not done it before.

you might want to check out the equipment section as well, some of the guys here sell some really good training tools!

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showforum=5

[bencrush]

I read the Newbie thread at the top, but I was hoping for a couple more suggestions. There were a couple of suggestions in that thread of buying a 3' or 4' bar (I think 3/16" was suggested, or maybe 5/16") and cutting it down into pieces to bend. Well, what should I do if I am not able to come across one of these bars? For someone who is completely new to bending, and pretty much new to grip training in general, are there any bolts or nails that I could start off with instead? I dont know what I'm capable of, but since bolts are fairly cheap should I just go buy a few sizes and see where I'm at or what? Where should I start? If it makes any difference, I'll probably be bending DU because I'm doing this to increase my wrist strength for armwrestling and I think DU will help with the toproll the most, which is how I pull most often.

Also, what is a normal price for one of those 3' or 4' bars of round stock? If I do find one I dont want to get jipped on the price.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Most people start with 3/16" CRS just to get the hang of the form and technique involved in bending. Most quickly graduate to 1/4" HRS or 1/4" CRS from there. I don't know if you're in the USA, but if you are it's very easy to buy some timber ties (1/4") that are 6" long and those usually are quite easy to bend but make good warmups. Then you could buy some 60D Nails which are harder than 1/4"X6" CRS. Then 1/4"X6" Grade 5s are usually the next step up from the 60D Nails. There is plenty of steel out there for variety.

McMasterCarr.com sells a huge variety of drill rod and even Stainless.

Also, John Beatty-owner of FBBC-sells Bending Kits and they are top rate. Even starting out I think it's a great idea to buy an actual Bending Kit because then you know what you're working towards. The steel he buys tends to remain very consistent. And if you enjoy working towards goals, like getting strong enough to certify and get on his or any of the bending lists (GB has one), then having the actual steel to certify with means a lot. Also a world class bender.

David Horne still sells Calibrated Bars as far as I know. He's a big bender also. Lots of info there. GripFAQ (Scott Styles) is another very good site to review for bending tips/advice. Gamidon and Dave Morton are 2 of the Kings of Bending. They wrote an awesome article a few years back that should be quite easy to find using the Search function.

The Diesel Crew has a great Bending Ebook out. It's on their site. And they're very strong benders.

This might be too much info for now. But if you're really serious about becoming the best bender that you can be you'll start reading other people's bending logs (especially world class benders), watching bending videos, and training smart. Experiment with levering because most guys say it works. It wasn't necessary for me, but I was lazy. Don't be me. I earned my strength the hard way by toiling long and hard and for most of that time had not much of an idea of how to train effectively, but I still enjoyed it. There are far too many strong benders here who openly share information for anyone to ever make the same mistakes we did again.

Good luck on your journey. And good to have you here.