Rules For Endurance Bending Of 60d Nails

[Brad Manion]

Later this year, I will attempt to surpass my feat of bending 50 of the GripRite 60d nails by bending 100 of such nails. As there seems to be no discussion/consensus of how to do this, I'd like to show how I plan to accomplish my feat and invite opinion from some of the others who've done this sort of thing (e.g. Greg Amidon, Dave Morton, Bud Jeffries, etc). Perhaps some day, there will be a consensus and formalized rules in case somebody wants to set a record for number. John Brookfield's record of bending every nail in an entire 50# box of 60d nails is JUST a bit beyond me right now, but perhaps in a few years I'll give it a go.

1. Wraps can be of any non rigid material (suede, cordura, etc). I prefer thin suede.

2. Double wraps can be used. When I wrap the end of a nail, I'll have two thin pieces of suede on top of each other. Each piece is about 4" wide x 10" (or so) long. Depending on the brand of suede that is used, this will amount to a wrap that is about 1-1/4" to 1-5/8" thick, in my experience.

3. For safety reasons, rubber bands can be used to hold the leather in place on point-wraps. I have found that when bending at such a fast rate, the wraps on the pointed end wear out around every 10'th bend and must be rewrapped/rubber-banded. Failing to do so not only make the bends more difficult, but the layers of leather sliding apart make it much more likely that a puncture will take place. I have actually damaged most of my pieces of suede for failing to re-band them soon enough when doing multi-nail sprint sets.

4. To elaborate further on point#3, one can make as many sets of rubber-banded "point-wraps" as one can afford, so long as the wrapping material is shown to be non-rigid to witnesses.

5. For "head-wraps", the bender can enlist helpers that will wrap only the head ends of each nail with non-rigid material (leather,suede,cordura, etc) that is shown to witnesses beforehand. Rubber bands can be used, but I found they aren't necessary for this step and actually slow the bender and helpers down.

6. All bends must be made to the GripBoard Standard of 2" between the legs. One helper/official witness, known as the inspector, would be in charge of measurements.

7. Actual nail bending demo = I show witnesses all the pieces of suede, make all the head-wraps, rubber-band them, etc. I have 3-4 helpers wrapping only the heads of nails. I grab any wrapped nail I see, bend it, toss it down to a helper who immediately unwraps it and gives it to the inspector for verification of the 2" standard. Meanwhile, that helper immediately begins to wrap the head of another 60d nail.

8. Documentation: This is the toughest for me to decide upon... I can have this videotaped, but even I'm moving at the pace I was when I bent 50 of the GripRite 60d nails, it will still take 20+ minutes to bend all 100 nails plus a little bit of lead-in and exit footage. Perhaps something easier would be:

a)picture of an unopened box of GripRite 60d nails

b)picture of just-opened box

c)picture of 100 of the GripRite 60d nails, with bender (me) in close proximity

d) a few pictures of me during the effort

e) The trophy rack (holding a piece of steel with all 100 of the bent GripRite 60d nails)

I apologize for such a long post, but I do have the goal of going for the Brookfield record in a few years, and I want only the strictest standards. If anybody has suggestions (modifications, rule deletions, additions, etc), I'm all ears. Thanks for all the help from my brother steel-benders.

Brad

[Tim71]

A couple of things to consider. I read once that John Brookfield wore gloves and he admited they weren't the toughest 60d nails ever made. Of course the griprites aren't either, especially the galvanized ones.

Second, excuse my ignorance but isn't Brookfield from England and if so did he use their smaller 6mm 60d nails? Seems like all he videos I can find originate from the UK so I just assume that's where he's from. IF that's the case then that may make a difference. Not that John isn't an incredible human being because he is but you want to compare apples to apples.

Go for it! That's not something I've ever chased but it sounds like a real endurance test.

Best of luck!

Tim

[ox3782]

I like the feat and the rules!

Tim John Brookfeild is from Pinehurst NC USA.He sells his stuff through a company in England I dont know why but he does!

Brendan

Edited June 13, 2007 by ox3782

[Tim71]

Brendan,

You're kidding me?! Why in the world would you do that? I would love to purchase a couple of his DVDs but I can't find any domestic source for them.

Anybody know where to get them in this country?

Tim

[ox3782]

Samsonscroll.com Is Johns site and used to be based here but now it goes right to a site based in England.?????Maybe he did that to not step on someones toes???

I have his videos and they are extremley fun and inspiring three decks of cards at the same time John is hands down the best card tearer I have ever seen it doesent even look at all challenging for him to go through a deck just pop done!!!

Brendan

[Brad Manion]

Thanks for the input guys. The GripRite nails I use aren't galvanized. While it's true that there are tougher 60d nails out there, as you guys pointed out there are also weaker 60d nails. So, I think that using un-galvanized GripRite 60d nails will be a nice medium. I use my bare hands, but with the wraps. I suppose that keeping a box of lifter's chalk nearby wouldn't be a bad idea to keep my hands dry. Of course, I can see how John Brookfield's use of gloves would eliminate A LOT of the issues I put forth (use of helpers, wraps, etc). I'll still stick with helpers, my bare hands, and wraps.

If I had to guess when I'll actually make my attempt, it'd be between Halloween and Thanksgiving of this year. I have a few powerlifting contests left before my competition season is over, and I'll take a few weaks off to heal up and get ready for this nail-bending marathon.

[Autolupus]

Here's a John Brookfield site, with links:

http://www.johnbrookfield.couk.com

[Tim71]

The griprite shiny nails cal'd at 265 which is a good nail. About medium according to past references.

Good choice!

Tim