matthcarl Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 did you try that 5.5" square yet?? that thing is a beast on the crush Dead! I just now tried the 5.5" square and it went down...easily. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it's like I'm past some crazy mental block. I'm going to have to try more short stuff now Plus if my crush is that strong, maybe I'll finally get the shiny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cberg Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 did you try that 5.5" square yet?? that thing is a beast on the crush Dead! I just now tried the 5.5" square and it went down...easily. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it's like I'm past some crazy mental block. I'm going to have to try more short stuff now Plus if my crush is that strong, maybe I'll finally get the shiny. Dude thats awesome!! If it went down easy, you definitely have a chance with the shiny. Next bending workout youre doing it! Just make sure you keep it hot, those things are a b*&^% when they freeze up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 I'll give the shiny another whirl when I'm feeling fresh... But I'm pleased to note that from my massive goal list, #27 and #31 are complete now that I've bent both the G8 and square at 5.5" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tja Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Good work on the 5.5" square! Let us know how the shiny attempt goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumpster Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Good work getting the 5.5" G8 & square off your list. Those are both something I'd like to get done this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Thanks everyone I'll try to get a couple of videos up over the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 I forgot to update here, but I did get the 5.5" square and G8 on video over the weekend. Today, I managed a couple of DU bends of a 5.5" G5 bolt. These were the "Linear S" marked G5's. Is it just me or do these seem more brittle than other G5's? Even if I deep wrap them, they seem to bend on the threads a bit. I even snapped the threads completely off one of these the other day, which I've never done before with any bolt. They just feel weird. Oh, well. I'm off to go jog a couple of miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 The shiny is still mocking me, but I had a couple of good bends today: - 5"x1/4" G5 (JH Black). I got a bunch of these from TS a while ago, but never managed to fully bend one until today after I saw Hugo's post. - 6"x1/4" FBBC Square, DU. PR! I have gotten little kinks in the square before DU, but today it just melted and went to 60 degrees in two hits. - Not a real bend, but I got a 5mm mini-kink in a shiny bastard DU. Other than that, I got some walking in. My car was in the shop, so I walked home from there in subzero weather, and back to pick it up later. It was up to 16 degrees by then Anyway, it was probably 3 miles total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cberg Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 nice job on the bends man! that JH G5 sounds nasty. As far as those linear S G5s go, every one ive ever attempted has either severely bent on the threads or broken. I would stay away from those ones if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 (edited) I tried a number of bends today, and ended with nothing but failure - 5" G8 attempt - FAIL! - 5.5" square DU attempt - FAIL!! - DC2 attempt - EPIC FAIL!!! - 17"x1/2" HRS attempt for VBC. Yes. Another failure I don't know what it is today, but I just felt weak and nothing went well, even the horseshoe, which should have been easy. Edited February 7, 2009 by The Writer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 More bending attempts today: - 3/8"x7" Natrional CRS attempt...went nowhere - Bastard, fairly quickly, but not that easy - 3/8 G2 attempt - did not move - Edgin attempt - stuck at 30 degrees - Huge bastard - taken from 20 degrees to 100 degrees, but couldn't crush it down My training has ben up and down. My kinking power went way down. It seems to be coming back, but I'm still not as strong as I was last fall. Crush seems to be a little stronger, but as I said, the Huge Bastard is still laughing at me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tja Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 More bending attempts today:- 3/8"x7" Natrional CRS attempt...went nowhere - Bastard, fairly quickly, but not that easy - 3/8 G2 attempt - did not move - Edgin attempt - stuck at 30 degrees - Huge bastard - taken from 20 degrees to 100 degrees, but couldn't crush it down My training has ben up and down. My kinking power went way down. It seems to be coming back, but I'm still not as strong as I was last fall. Crush seems to be a little stronger, but as I said, the Huge Bastard is still laughing at me. 100-120 degrees suck. That's where I usually get stuck as well. Btw, FWIF, I went quite nicely in 4 weeks from 6.5" to 6" by just two bending sessions a week. I'd attempt to bend a bar. If I got it, I cut 1/8" off for the next time. And so on. Pretty trivial, but I didn't try it before. However, now I over did it a bit and am stuck again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 100-120 degrees suck. That's where I usually get stuck as well. Btw, FWIF, I went quite nicely in 4 weeks from 6.5" to 6" by just two bending sessions a week. I'd attempt to bend a bar. If I got it, I cut 1/8" off for the next time. And so on. Pretty trivial, but I didn't try it before. However, now I over did it a bit and am stuck again Yeah, it's always been a weak point. I'll try a 6.5" bastard next time...I don't think I have done one with this hard stock, but if I can get one, maybe I'll try your shaving-down method After a rest, I aslo tried another 5"x1/4" square. Stuck at about 90 degrees, but I note it is 1/2" further than my previous attempt. I'll take progress wherever I find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) I hit the grippers to see how many reps I could get with the #2 for the gripper reps thread...I knocked out 15 right handed, which was a bit of a surprise, and just 3 lefty. I'll have to work on my weak hand I also got a little bending confidence back by reverse bending a 6" G5 (BY head). I got it 55 degrees or so on the reverse kink, then finished it just using FBBC crush pads... Edited February 11, 2009 by The Writer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Bending today: - 5.5"x1/4" G5 DU...solid. These linear "S" G5's seen really hard for me. It really hurt my wrists - 6.5" bastard (480 stock). Just a hair under 6.5" actually. Kinked easily, but failed on the crush. Disappointing. - 7"x1/4" square reverse attempt. All I did was hurt my wrists I think I need to take a bit of a break from bending...a couple of weeks maybe. These bends have sucked lately. Interesting point I am not sure where to put anywhere else...I was looking at how many views different videos have. My most viewed video? One I did of a 515 lb. bastard with 179 views. I am not sure why it's so special. My bastard cert vid, which went up earlier, has only 57 views. I wonder if the title brings up weird matches...it is "New Hard Bastard Bend." Doesn't sound very exciting to me, but what do I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) I felt stronger today, so I tried some bending. I bent a 6.5" bastard with difficulty. I was disappointed, but remembering that these are hard bastards, I tried a shiny, and failed miserably. It started way off center...I flipped it over and tried to correct, but this sucker has a very wide U-shape. I also tried a 5.25" piece of square CRS and failed. My crush is back to feeling rather weak, but my kink feels relatively strong. I am thinking I might be close to the Red Nail cert again. ETA...I felt good on the grippers the other day, and closed my HG300 solidly after being off on grippers for a while. Edited February 21, 2009 by The Writer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Tried grippers today. Hands felt good, but I was disappointed to miss on the RB 260N. I feel like I'm as good as I've ever been on grippers, but getting consistent with anything over a #2.5 just hasn't happened yet. I'd really like to close a #3 at the Plgrim Grip Comp this summer, and it's going to take some work. I think I have a pretty middle of the road #3, and I'm maybe a quarter inch off on my best days. On the other hand (literally) I had some decent #2 closes left handed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 I tried some bending today. Not great. 7x1/4" square in IM pads...failed. 6x5/16" G2 (BL) DU...got it to 60, then finished it DO with just crush pads 6x1/4 Square DU...failed Isos on shiny bastard stuck @100 degrees...just made my shoulder hurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eaton Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Tried grippers today. Hands felt good, but I was disappointed to miss on the RB 260N. I feel like I'm as good as I've ever been on grippers, but getting consistent with anything over a #2.5 just hasn't happened yet. I'd really like to close a #3 at the Plgrim Grip Comp this summer, and it's going to take some work. I think I have a pretty middle of the road #3, and I'm maybe a quarter inch off on my best days.On the other hand (literally) I had some decent #2 closes left handed. Come over one of these weekends, and I'll help you with the grippers and maybe you can get me bending again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Come over one of these weekends, and I'll help you with the grippers and maybe you can get me bending again That I will! Seriously, I'd like to attend the MM1 attempt if you do it on a weekend. I'll keep an eye out and try to be in touch...PM's might be best unless I'm expecting a call because I'm **cough, cough** known not to check my phone messages for several months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 Today I saw a video of a G8 bend...not a bad bend overall, but I thought the kink technique could have been better. I know I am not the best kinker around by any means, but I think I am at least the technical equal of most. I tried to make a "Superkink" video, showing what I think are the two major issues holding people back on the kink 1) keeping the bar low on the chest and rotating the wrists. 2) starting the kink like an iso movement and slowly increasing the force into the bar. To correct the first problem, I believe one should work on shoulder flexibility to take advatage of being able to keep the bar high under the chin and then be able to incorporate more upper body strength. For the second, I take Greg Amidon's advice...overcome your 'fear' and kink hard and fast. Anyway, I made a video trying to show these problems, then showing a fast kink (7x1/4 square to 45 degrees in one movement) which helps heat up the bar and makes the rest of the bend easier. Unfortunately my camera sucks, and you can hardly hear what I am saying. I made three more videos without speaking where I bend 7x1/4 square two with the poorer techniques I mentioned at first, then killing one in a few hits with the 'Superkink' method. Unfortunately, I am not sure you can clearly see the differences, especially since I did manage to bend the square even with poor technique. After that I tried kinking some tougher stuff...I put about a 5mm warp in a 3/8" by 7" G2 (HKT) and got some 3/8"x7" hex brass past 90 degrees, but couldn't finish off either by any means. I am debating whther or not to put up the videos anyway and let people make of them what they will. Maybe I'll just post them here for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 (edited) My videos...all done with 7"x1/4" square CRS from FBBC and suede leather wraps (also from FBBC). Trying to explain kink technique low kink with too much wrist torque slow kink starts like an iso movement "SUPERKINK" done right Edited February 28, 2009 by The Writer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewokhugo Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 great work Matt!! liked the videos a lot! time to write a book about "bending vs aliens"??:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tja Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Yeah! Very nice kink tutorial! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthcarl Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks guys! Hugo - don't think I haven't thought about putting bending in a science fiction story The problem is, gripping and bending is hard to explain in a few casual sentences as part of a separate plot. It is easy to show someone, but my few attempts at writing about it stretch on too long. They get boring, and are still confusing if you've never seen it before. Oh, well. Maybe I'll figure something out eventually. Anyway, as I posted elsewhere, I got some new stock at the Fastenal store that just opened near me, plus I got some other odd stuff from tja (thanks Joonas!). Of course I couldn't contain myself. Here's what I bent: - 7.5"x5/16" O-1 Drillrod - not too bad. I'm planning to try a 6.5" piece next. It does have a fairly wide bend radius, though, so I can see where the crush will become tougher. - 7"x3/8" Brass - Piece of cake. I did it in single leather nice and fast. Felt the same as a Golden...I was curious ecause Jim Ricchezza sent me some Fastenal brass last year that was much harder. - 7"x8mm Rebar - Harder than I expected. Felt close to a bastard in strength to me (maybe the old 430 bastards I certed on). Joonas claims these are good for DU and reverse practice. Ha ha. - 7"x10mm Aluminum - Weird stuff. It wasn't a max bend, bt it was no joke. It bent on the flat...I guess maybe it was too thick for me control the bend much. The crush was pretty easy, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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