6" G5

[pburke23]

Hey guys, I'm getting a little frustrated at my lack of progress. 2 things I want to know, 1) about how long after starting bending were you able to

bend a 6" G5, and 2) I need some help on improving faster, what is recommended? I really only do gripper work and sledge-hammer leveraging a

few times at week at the moment.

Thanks for all the help, I love this board and you guys!

[foxyj75]

My 2 cents is this: Bend, bend, bend!! I don't know what you are regularly bending now, but for me, I bought a huge box of 60d timber ties, and would bend those things until failure each time I would bend.(btw, I was also using a thin dishtowel ripped in half for wraps!! This was before I knew about leather! lol!) Bend them in every style. I then moved to 1/4'' crs. Start at 7'', and work your way down in length. Then move on to 60d nails. But the biggest thing is that you have to get RED and totally commit to the bend. See the nail/bolt/bar bending in your mind. As far as my first 6'' G5, I got it reverse, and probably about 3 1/2 months after I started.

If some of this stuff sounds a little basic, I apologize. I don't know what level you're at, but this is what worked for me. Good luck in getting that G5! You'll get it sooner than you think!!

Later,

Foxman

[pburke23]

My 2 cents is this: Bend, bend, bend!! I don't know what you are regularly bending now, but for me, I bought a huge box of 60d timber ties, and would bend those things until failure each time I would bend.(btw, I was also using a thin dishtowel ripped in half for wraps!! This was before I knew about leather! lol!) Bend them in every style. I then moved to 1/4'' crs. Start at 7'', and work your way down in length. Then move on to 60d nails. But the biggest thing is that you have to get RED and totally commit to the bend. See the nail/bolt/bar bending in your mind. As far as my first 6'' G5, I got it reverse, and probably about 3 1/2 months after I started.

If some of this stuff sounds a little basic, I apologize. I don't know what level you're at, but this is what worked for me. Good luck in getting that G5! You'll get it sooner than you think!!

Later,

Foxman

Thank you for the advice, I think I need to bend more, and a little higher volume. One of my biggest problems is finding a good bolt in between a 6" G2 and

a 6" G5 that I can easily get my hands on to bend in higher volumes. What bolt would you recommend between the two, the 6" g2's are very easy for me

at this point, but my g5's are too tough. I don't have a good way to progress up to it is what I'm trying to say...

Btw, great job on your first public bending show today! That was a great read, and very inspiring! You're doing a lot of good!

[foxyj75]

Go to your local hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, or whatever you have there, and buy some 60d nails. Not the "timber tie'' spiral ones, but the "bright common", or galvanized ones. That G2 1/4'' bolt is about 200 lbs. to bend. The G5 is about 340-400 depending on the brand. The majority of reg. 60d's fall right about 260-300 lbs. they are a perfect in-between bend to get to the G5. Not to mention they are also 6'' long, like your goal bolt. Try em' and see what you think!!

Foxman

[pburke23]

Go to your local hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, or whatever you have there, and buy some 60d nails. Not the "timber tie'' spiral ones, but the "bright common", or galvanized ones. That G2 1/4'' bolt is about 200 lbs. to bend. The G5 is about 340-400 depending on the brand. The majority of reg. 60d's fall right about 260-300 lbs. they are a perfect in-between bend to get to the G5. Not to mention they are also 6'' long, like your goal bolt. Try em' and see what you think!!

Foxman

Ya know what, I bought a box of 60d's a while back and totally forgot about them in the garage. However, they are black colored... not shiny steel if thats what the "bright common" means. Will these work? I will go grab the box if you need more info...

[foxyj75]

As long as they're not timber ties, or pole barn nails, and 1/4'' x 6'' long, you should be good. If it's still not clear just post what the box says, and we'll figure it out!!

Go to your local hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, or whatever you have there, and buy some 60d nails. Not the "timber tie'' spiral ones, but the "bright common", or galvanized ones. That G2 1/4'' bolt is about 200 lbs. to bend. The G5 is about 340-400 depending on the brand. The majority of reg. 60d's fall right about 260-300 lbs. they are a perfect in-between bend to get to the G5. Not to mention they are also 6'' long, like your goal bolt. Try em' and see what you think!!

Foxman

Ya know what, I bought a box of 60d's a while back and totally forgot about them in the garage. However, they are black colored... not shiny steel if thats what the "bright common" means. Will these work? I will go grab the box if you need more info...

[Tim71]

Bright common simply means ungalvanized. Some of those blacker ones are very tough, close to G5 levels. Especially if they're keystones or mazels, although the keystones are the tougher of the 2. You can also get 1/4 inch zinc-plated steel and cut it to length and Cold-rolled steel up from there.

If you have a fastenal nearby, 1/4 inch drill rod is another good one to try.

One last thing, not all G2 bolts are the same. Eric just sent me some calibration numbers of a HKT G2 1/4 by 6 inch bolt at 235 which is quite high for a G2 bolt. I've had some "BL" varieties that I think hit 185 so if you're bending 307a or some of the easier ones you may look for the HKT ones.

Seems like the G5 took a while for me although I concentrated mostly on braced bending at first. Seemed impossible to me but with enough work you will get it.

Like Foxman said, bend, bend, bend.

Tim

[pburke23]

Bright common simply means ungalvanized. Some of those blacker ones are very tough, close to G5 levels. Especially if they're keystones or mazels, although the keystones are the tougher of the 2. You can also get 1/4 inch zinc-plated steel and cut it to length and Cold-rolled steel up from there.

If you have a fastenal nearby, 1/4 inch drill rod is another good one to try.

One last thing, not all G2 bolts are the same. Eric just sent me some calibration numbers of a HKT G2 1/4 by 6 inch bolt at 235 which is quite high for a G2 bolt. I've had some "BL" varieties that I think hit 185 so if you're bending 307a or some of the easier ones you may look for the HKT ones.

Seems like the G5 took a while for me although I concentrated mostly on braced bending at first. Seemed impossible to me but with enough work you will get it.

Like Foxman said, bend, bend, bend.

Tim

So, I just pulled out that box, it was actually a box of 5" 40D's but I bought a bag full of 60D's also and that was in there. I wrapped one of the 40D's and

went for it, and at the end of the bend, it snapped in two... I can't imagine these being too safe, so I put them away and grabbed the bad of 60D's, fixing to

try one out in a moment.

[vikingsrule92]

Definitely Bend a lot. Bending will make you better at bending, it's as simple as that. You can try shorter G2s, 1/4" CRS, 60ds (make sure they're not the psychotically hard brand), 1/4" Square HRS (might be a little too easy), and stuff like that.

Oh and I got my first G5 about 1 1/2 months into bending.

Also, other tips for being better at bending, watch A LOT of videos of better benders, not only will they inspire you but they'll also teach you correct form. Copy them and try to mimic their technique. You can also buy the E-books from either Eric, Diesel Crew or read Dave Morten and Greg Amidon's free ebook stickied at the top of the ebnding forum.

[pburke23]

Definitely Bend a lot. Bending will make you better at bending, it's as simple as that. You can try shorter G2s, 1/4" CRS, 60ds (make sure they're not the psychotically hard brand), 1/4" Square HRS (might be a little too easy), and stuff like that.

Oh and I got my first G5 about 1 1/2 months into bending.

Also, other tips for being better at bending, watch A LOT of videos of better benders, not only will they inspire you but they'll also teach you correct form. Copy them and try to mimic their technique. You can also buy the E-books from either Eric, Diesel Crew or read Dave Morten and Greg Amidon's free ebook stickied at the top of the ebnding forum.

Good advice, thank you. Although, most of the videos I watch on here tend to primarily be DO bending, and I love bending DU. But I will have to look harder, or

search youtube or something. Thanks again.

[vikingsrule92]

Definitely Bend a lot. Bending will make you better at bending, it's as simple as that. You can try shorter G2s, 1/4" CRS, 60ds (make sure they're not the psychotically hard brand), 1/4" Square HRS (might be a little too easy), and stuff like that.

Oh and I got my first G5 about 1 1/2 months into bending.

Also, other tips for being better at bending, watch A LOT of videos of better benders, not only will they inspire you but they'll also teach you correct form. Copy them and try to mimic their technique. You can also buy the E-books from either Eric, Diesel Crew or read Dave Morten and Greg Amidon's free ebook stickied at the top of the ebnding forum.

Good advice, thank you. Although, most of the videos I watch on here tend to primarily be DO bending, and I love bending DU. But I will have to look harder, or

search youtube or something. Thanks again.

Okay then, look at the profile on youtube "booyahbender", He goes by Booyah! on here and is without a doubt one of, if not the strongest DU bender out there. He has picture perfect form and you can learn a lot from him. I'm sure there's a lot of others as well, but he's great example. Oh and no problem, happy to help

Edited January 4, 2008 by vikingsrule92

[foxyj75]

My favorite style just happens to be DU too!! I agree with Derek, Booyah! makes insanely hard DU bends look easy. As you watch his videos, take note of how he attacks the bend. With velocity and fury, totally and completely!! This is especially important with DU because you don't have the same leverage as DO. Keep it close too your body, and drive that sucker down to your belly button! Let us know how that 60d turns out!!

Definitely Bend a lot. Bending will make you better at bending, it's as simple as that. You can try shorter G2s, 1/4" CRS, 60ds (make sure they're not the psychotically hard brand), 1/4" Square HRS (might be a little too easy), and stuff like that.

Oh and I got my first G5 about 1 1/2 months into bending.

Also, other tips for being better at bending, watch A LOT of videos of better benders, not only will they inspire you but they'll also teach you correct form. Copy them and try to mimic their technique. You can also buy the E-books from either Eric, Diesel Crew or read Dave Morten and Greg Amidon's free ebook stickied at the top of the ebnding forum.

Good advice, thank you. Although, most of the videos I watch on here tend to primarily be DO bending, and I love bending DU. But I will have to look harder, or

search youtube or something. Thanks again.

[Tim71]

Booyah is an insane DU bender.

Also, if you'd like a DVD then check out Steve Mcgranahan's DVDs. They're available at heavenbent.net. He shows the DU technique in detail and goes through everything from a 60d on up to a red nail all with cloth rags. In vol 2 he's discovered leather wraps and does 2 60d DU style. Lots of other great feats too.

Pretty reasonable priced too.

Tim

[timiacobucci]

If you are looking for a progression I think yellow and blue nails from ironmind and 1/4" crs from fbbc are in the area you want as well.

Another method to get stronger faster other than actually bending is isometrics. Just get a few big bolts like a 5/16" x 6" g2 will be easy to find and cheap and should work for you. Cheat bend them with some pipes or pliers or whatever you got for leverage to different degrees to hit all the major positions you are likely to go through in a tough bend. Wrap the bent peice and push on it ALL OUT, try for 10 seconds or more but you are likely to fall very short of this just starting out. This will make you strong fast if you give it maximum intensity.

[foxyj75]

So what happened with the 60d?? Let us know!!! I'm curious! Later

Bright common simply means ungalvanized. Some of those blacker ones are very tough, close to G5 levels. Especially if they're keystones or mazels, although the keystones are the tougher of the 2. You can also get 1/4 inch zinc-plated steel and cut it to length and Cold-rolled steel up from there.

If you have a fastenal nearby, 1/4 inch drill rod is another good one to try.

One last thing, not all G2 bolts are the same. Eric just sent me some calibration numbers of a HKT G2 1/4 by 6 inch bolt at 235 which is quite high for a G2 bolt. I've had some "BL" varieties that I think hit 185 so if you're bending 307a or some of the easier ones you may look for the HKT ones.

Seems like the G5 took a while for me although I concentrated mostly on braced bending at first. Seemed impossible to me but with enough work you will get it.

Like Foxman said, bend, bend, bend.

Tim

So, I just pulled out that box, it was actually a box of 5" 40D's but I bought a bag full of 60D's also and that was in there. I wrapped one of the 40D's and

went for it, and at the end of the bend, it snapped in two... I can't imagine these being too safe, so I put them away and grabbed the bad of 60D's, fixing to

try one out in a moment.

[pburke23]

If you are looking for a progression I think yellow and blue nails from ironmind and 1/4" crs from fbbc are in the area you want as well.

Another method to get stronger faster other than actually bending is isometrics. Just get a few big bolts like a 5/16" x 6" g2 will be easy to find and cheap and should work for you. Cheat bend them with some pipes or pliers or whatever you got for leverage to different degrees to hit all the major positions you are likely to go through in a tough bend. Wrap the bent peice and push on it ALL OUT, try for 10 seconds or more but you are likely to fall very short of this just starting out. This will make you strong fast if you give it maximum intensity.

The 5/16" x 6 G2's I get locally at ACE are pretty easy for me at the moment, maybe I said it wrong earlier, but I'm looking for something between them and a 1/4" 6" G5, and that's where the 60D's were recommended. Thank you for the advice, very cool method to progression there...

[pburke23]

So what happened with the 60d?? Let us know!!! I'm curious! Later

Bright common simply means ungalvanized. Some of those blacker ones are very tough, close to G5 levels. Especially if they're keystones or mazels, although the keystones are the tougher of the 2. You can also get 1/4 inch zinc-plated steel and cut it to length and Cold-rolled steel up from there.

If you have a fastenal nearby, 1/4 inch drill rod is another good one to try.

One last thing, not all G2 bolts are the same. Eric just sent me some calibration numbers of a HKT G2 1/4 by 6 inch bolt at 235 which is quite high for a G2 bolt. I've had some "BL" varieties that I think hit 185 so if you're bending 307a or some of the easier ones you may look for the HKT ones.

Seems like the G5 took a while for me although I concentrated mostly on braced bending at first. Seemed impossible to me but with enough work you will get it.

Like Foxman said, bend, bend, bend.

Tim

So, I just pulled out that box, it was actually a box of 5" 40D's but I bought a bag full of 60D's also and that was in there. I wrapped one of the 40D's and

went for it, and at the end of the bend, it snapped in two... I can't imagine these being too safe, so I put them away and grabbed the bad of 60D's, fixing to

try one out in a moment.

I was pretty nervous about it last night after snapping that 40D, made me feel a little uncomfortable. So, I'm going to give a few 60D's a go tomorrow after my Seahawks win.

[vikingsrule92]

If you are looking for a progression I think yellow and blue nails from ironmind and 1/4" crs from fbbc are in the area you want as well.

Another method to get stronger faster other than actually bending is isometrics. Just get a few big bolts like a 5/16" x 6" g2 will be easy to find and cheap and should work for you. Cheat bend them with some pipes or pliers or whatever you got for leverage to different degrees to hit all the major positions you are likely to go through in a tough bend. Wrap the bent peice and push on it ALL OUT, try for 10 seconds or more but you are likely to fall very short of this just starting out. This will make you strong fast if you give it maximum intensity.

The 5/16" x 6 G2's I get locally at ACE are pretty easy for me at the moment, maybe I said it wrong earlier, but I'm looking for something between them and a 1/4" 6" G5, and that's where the 60D's were recommended. Thank you for the advice, very cool method to progression there...

You just said G2, not 5/16" G2. If you're bending those easily but not G5s you must have some psychotically easy 5/16" G2s, mine are a little easier than a G8 and most are between that and a huge bastard. What's the brand of these 5/16" G2s? Are you sure they're 5/16"?

[pburke23]

If you are looking for a progression I think yellow and blue nails from ironmind and 1/4" crs from fbbc are in the area you want as well.

Another method to get stronger faster other than actually bending is isometrics. Just get a few big bolts like a 5/16" x 6" g2 will be easy to find and cheap and should work for you. Cheat bend them with some pipes or pliers or whatever you got for leverage to different degrees to hit all the major positions you are likely to go through in a tough bend. Wrap the bent peice and push on it ALL OUT, try for 10 seconds or more but you are likely to fall very short of this just starting out. This will make you strong fast if you give it maximum intensity.

The 5/16" x 6 G2's I get locally at ACE are pretty easy for me at the moment, maybe I said it wrong earlier, but I'm looking for something between them and a 1/4" 6" G5, and that's where the 60D's were recommended. Thank you for the advice, very cool method to progression there...

You just said G2, not 5/16" G2. If you're bending those easily but not G5s you must have some psychotically easy 5/16" G2s, mine are a little easier than a G8 and most are between that and a huge bastard. What's the brand of these 5/16" G2s? Are you sure they're 5/16"?

They are 5/16", don't the G2's sometimes have a huge variation though? These to me don't seem very easy, but are definately not max effort. So I would assume I do have a batch of very easy ones...

[timiacobucci]

Damn, I never knew some of those were so easy. I have some that are much harder than a g8. I never even imagined anyone could do those before a g5. But thats sort of beside the point, just get something that is a good bit beyond your strength right now that you can't do to use for isos. Use some 3/8" g2 then, I bet you can't bend those yet.

[pburke23]

Damn, I never knew some of those were so easy. I have some that are much harder than a g8. I never even imagined anyone could do those before a g5. But thats sort of beside the point, just get something that is a good bit beyond your strength right now that you can't do to use for isos. Use some 3/8" g2 then, I bet you can't bend those yet.

haha, nope, not even close. Maybe I'm just weird but I can at least kink a G5 pretty good, but can't budge a 3/8" g2 yet. Is that normal or do I have some weird bolts?

[vikingsrule92]

There are a few that are under G5 strength, but probably only one or two brands, they don't have that high of a variance but yes it is pretty high. What's it say on the head of those bolts? What's the brand? Is it 307A? Because those cal at 305, about a 60d level well below where most 5/16" G2s cal.

[vikingsrule92]

Damn, I never knew some of those were so easy. I have some that are much harder than a g8. I never even imagined anyone could do those before a g5. But thats sort of beside the point, just get something that is a good bit beyond your strength right now that you can't do to use for isos. Use some 3/8" g2 then, I bet you can't bend those yet.

haha, nope, not even close. Maybe I'm just weird but I can at least kink a G5 pretty good, but can't budge a 3/8" g2 yet. Is that normal or do I have some weird bolts?

You're not weird at all, 3/8" G2s are monstrous, I can't even come close to one and I can bend a Huge Bastard, well above G5 level. How far can you kink a G5? Try cheat kinking it using pipes or a pipe and a vice and bending it from there. Or if you can't bend it from there do isos on it a few times a week until you can.

[matthcarl]

Are you sure those G2's are 5/16"? I recently did a 307a and I thought it was much harder than even a 5"x1/4" g5. To answer your original question, I was bending for about a month before I hit a 6" g5. I worked up from various lengths of 3/16" and 1/4" CRS, then 60d's, then a g5. It took another 4 months to get to the 5/16" g2.

[foxyj75]

Just out of curiosity, what brand are your G5's? If they are a dark, blackish-green, and have a JH on the head, then you have one of the toughest G5's out there. I think they go about 400-405lbs. The regular shiny or galvanized G5's go around 340-370ish I think(someone correct me if I'm wrong!). If you had the tough ones, that would explain the ability to bend an easier 5/16 G2, and not the 1/4'' G5. Just a thought! Later!