Whats A Good Start For Bending?

[king crusher]

hi i just tried bending for the very first time....i found a 1/4" hard steel rod just laying in a parking lot.

it was pretty long....24"

so i grabbed it with 2 hands touching together, so i was attempting about 8" and i felt it flex but couldent bend it, i had to grab it at about 12" to bend it. is this pathetic?

should i go to home depot and if so what do you guys recommend?

the way i tried was palms down and out infront of me, is this correct?

[maidenfan]

I too am new to bending. Check out Tom Black's and Benders websites, good info there. Research the boards, even more info here. I started with 7" pieces of 3/16" crs. Just start bending with the different techniques until you find one you like. I bend for overall wrist/arm strength, so I use many different techniques during a workout (I only bend once a week). 3/16" was pretty easy for me down to 5" - my hands are fairly wide so anything shorter than that was difficult to grasp.

I moved up to a 7 x 1/4 crs and it got hard quick. A few suggested here that 3/16" square stock or doing some 1/4" hrs may bridge that gap some. I think I'm gonna do some more volume with the 3/16" just to season my hands some. I recently started to add some 8" and 7.5" 1/4 crs and found my hands/wrists are getting stronger fast. Just take it slow for a while as you can mess up your wrists/hands going too fast and hard.

I'd go to a local steel/scrap yard and get a few 10 or 20' lengths of 3/16" crs. The 20 footers will prob be about $2 bucks. Experiment until you find a length you can comfortably bend w/out too much effort. I'd do that for a week or two (maybe cut a 1/4" off here and there) until you find a technique you like. Keep reading the posts here and you'll be good. Just remember, bending is even more addictive than the grippers. I tried bending about a year ago and was bending multiple times a week from the get go. I developed a deep bruise (or something) in my hand that took a long time to heal. Good luck.