I Enjoy Bending Steel!

Slim the "Hammer Man" style	Vertical style	Spike Bending style

Yield Strengths of different nails and rods:
	Ordered By Length (inches)		New! Ordered By Yield Strength (lbs.)

When I started out (Dec. 2000), I couldn't even bend an Ironmind White nail (the weakest nail in their Bag of Nails) because I was using bad technique-too much thumb. After improving both my grip strength and previously pathetic bending technique (I now use the "Slim the Hammer Man" technique of bending with my hands in front of my chest palms facing down and "explosively" attacking the nail), I started bending 40d nails, and Ironmind "White" and "Green" nails. My hands are large (8 in.) and I find that I prefer bending a length of steel 7" or longer. Unfortunately, this usually means tougher steel! Then I found 6" pole barn nails (which are about the same as the Ironmind white nail but cheaper) and 6 foot length of 1/4" & 5/16" hot rolled and cold rolled steel that I cut down to shorter lengths and bend. I also found some carriage bolts that are great fun to bend.

I like to bend nails behind my back and my training partner videotaped me bending a couple of 7" nails behind my back. I could only bend the 2nd nail about half way because I ran out of steam. If there's enough interest, I'll create a video file out of this recording (or do a new video) and put it on this web site. One of my goals is to eventually bend the Ironmind Blue nail behind my back. But, I don't think I'll be doing a back flip like John Brookfield can when bending behind his back!

After reading an article about John Brookfield's scroll work sculptures, I bought a 6 foot length of flat 1"X1/8 steel and scrolled this into my own work of art (using just hand strength). Later, I learned that John Brookfield uses 1/2" steel and not wimpy 1/8" steel! But it was a beginning for me! Here's a link to John Brookfield's sculptures: http://www.samsonscroll.com/

I've also bent the 6" x 1/4" Spiral nails from Home Depot, but this is the only nail that I've ever braced to bend and I don't like bracing. So, with my advances in technique, I can now readily bend these spiral nails without any form of bracing. If you look closely, you can see some of these in the pic below.


My grip strength continues to improve; my training partner inspired me to tackle tougher steel and I bent a 1/2" steel bar that is 4 foot long. I even made it "fish shaped" as is commonly done at strength exhibitions! I did have to brace this one on the side of my leg, though. But again, this is a start for me! Who knows? Maybe some day I'll be doing my own 1/2" scroll work sculptures like John Brookfield. (A guy can dream, can't he?)

Somehow, my wife readily tolerates having bend nails, spikes, and steel bars lying all over my training room! Without my family's support, a good training partner, and the terrific help from the Gripboard, I don't think I'd be anywhere near where I am at bending steel as I am today!

One word of caution: when I first started bending using Slim the Hammer Man's technique, I suffered some mild tendonitis and my training partner suffered major tendonitis (he was bending thicker steel). Since this, he has adopted the technique described in the chapter "Spike Bending with the Hands" found in Charles MacMahon's book "Feats of Strength and Dexterity" (1926). A link to this can be found at the http://www.naturalstrength.com/history/spike.html web site.

I have bent bars, bolts, nails, rods, and spikes. So far, I've only bent puny rusted horseshoes, but I am planning to incorporate some thicker/heavier ones that are more challenging into my training program. I am working toward being able to U-Shape the Ironmind Red "nail" in my hands without bracing it. I still have a ways to go for this.

My training strategy to be able to eventually bend the Ironmind Red "nail" is to bend "shaved" Red nails and progress from thinner to thicker metal. In the picture below, you can see Red nails that have had the middle 2 inches shaved to different thicknesses. Initially, I had the "Reds" shaved from 0.25-to-1.30 in one tenth increments. This way I could determine what my bending level was. As you can see, I was able to U-shape the 0.25", 0.26", and 0.27" Reds, but not the 0.28". This meant that I'll need to focus on bending the 0.28" and then after I could bend this, I'd advance to the 0.29", then the 0.30", and finally to the infamous Red at 0.3125".

Click on the pic for a Close-Up!

Below, you will find a pic of my first 1/2-inch thick steel bar that I bent. (The kid is playing strongman with it,)