Measuring degrees with protractor

[Jlark27]

Now that I am getting back into bending and specifically focusing on reverse style, I realized that I have no clue how to measure the degrees of a bend using a protractor. 
 

here is an image of a 5” grade 5 bolt that I bent last week. Am I placing it correctly? Did I hit the 40degrees? Depending on where it sits, the degrees seem to vary quite a bit. 
 

Any explanation would be greatly appreciated. 

[Gripineer]

Based on what I see, you probably didn't hit 40 deg. It would be best to get a different protractor with lines going from outside to center point to help you or just add the lines yourself. Here's a markup of yours, you should line up the straight parts of the outside edge of your bar to the lines. If you drew a line from 35 degrees to the center point and moved  your bar above the horizontal center point line it would probably match that angle.

Something like this one.

Edited August 31 by Gripineer

[Jlark27]

53 minutes ago, Gripineer said:

Based on what I see, you probably didn't hit 40 deg. It would be best to get a different protractor with lines going from outside to center point to help you or just add the lines yourself. Here's a markup of yours, you should line up the straight parts of the outside edge of your bar to the lines. If you drew a line from 35 degrees to the center point and moved  your bar above the horizontal center point line it would probably match that angle.

Something like this one.

Okay, this is starting to make more sense now. Outside edge to straight line. Thanks for the feedback.