Building Up To Lighter Wrapping?

[Jonathan Barlow]

I tried to show a coworker how I bend today. I had a 60d, which is usually fairly easy, but I had no pads or towels. At first I tried to bend it with bare hands, but it was too slipery. I wrapped it in a few napkins and I was able to kink it to about 120 degrees, but unable to crush it. It left some marks but it wasn't that bad. I would like to build up to less and less wraps so I can demonstrate a nice bend next time with just a napkin or two. Anyone else do this?

[Alawadhi]

Many benders toughen their hands. I do it. I did a bastart in IM pads. Aaron said he cuts the torn peice of his leather pads to slowly bring his padding down. Plus if you can bend a big steel then bending a 60d with a towel for example will be easy (you can also use a couple of tissue if you like).

[Tim71]

I'm sorta like Accorn in that. I've found that the more you bend that just kinda takes care of itself. For example if my thick wrap PR goes up then my medium and thin wrap kinda goes up to. I carry some really thin wraps that I slap on loosely to bend stuff for people. Usually it's a tough 60d nail but with these thin wraps I can do a G5 too. Strangly I've found that a 60d bend usually gets about as big a response as anything close in size on unbraced bending. The extra work of a G8 doesn't seem to get that much more reaction.

Once I was going to show off at a lunch where some guys were discussing the bent 60d that one of them had and they called me to come and silence the doubters. When I pulled up I realized I had nothing but a really worn thin washcloth in my truck so I used it and bent it.

Tim

[dimmers]

As previous posts have already said, its best to work on this by using less and less wrapping over time. Don't try and rush this as it takes a while to condition the hands when bending and if you try and push things along too soon you may end up getting hurt.

Also keep in mind, that bending styles have a lot to do with how much wrapping you can get away with.

Good luck with your bending!!!

[bencrush]

You can use a lot less padding when bending DU than DO, at least most of us can. So you might experiment a bit with that. If your main focus is to impress crowds then it might help to train for less padding. Otherwise, why tempt the gods of Injury?

[Jonathan Barlow]

True, thanks all.

[gerryg]

I'm a DU bender and I prefer the IM pads over the leather, for some odd reason I don't like the feel of the leather.

[Tim71]

I'm like Ben also on that one. I do have some thinner pads I use to bend 60ds for people simply because I don't want them to sit and wait while I wrap larger pads on a nail. I have noticed even without trying, that the more I bend, the less padding I need for the occasional show bends. I will way though that for tougher stuff I agree with Ben and will no longer subject my hands to the way they felt a few months ago. Even my "thicker" pads though aren't like they used to be.

Tim