Nail bending

[Chris921]

Went down to the local hardware store and got a some of the nails pictured below and some lengths of cold rolled steel. The crs was a bit too thin and was an easy bend but will do for a bit of short snapping material. Managed to double overhand the nails. I’m a beginner to bending only been at it a few months and have no idea what these nails are rated at? Is it best to just buy Rated steel so you know where your at? Cheers folks 

[wobbler]

Rated steel is hard to find and expensive, really more for testing than bending regularly. When you get to bending 1/4×6 grade 5 or 8 bolts those are cheap (ish) and tend to be pretty consistent, grade 2 vary more and are on par with hot rolled steel of the same diameter, usually. 7" bolts are more expensive than 6", sometimes by a lot. Fat bastard barbell co CRS is on the hard side, so get some7" long 1/4" round and square, and 9/32" round, they have bolts too.

Edit: galvanized 60d nails before all of that, should be like 15 cents each at any hardware store

Edited April 29, 2020 by wobbler

[Fist of Fury]

Depends a lot on where you're located. USA very easy to find all kinds of steel to bend, in Europe, not as easy, depending on your country. If you're rich it might not matter but it's no fun spending houndreds of dollars on shipping.

For beginners 6 mm (1/4) is usually a good start. You have nails and bolts in that category as wobbler suggested but you should start with cold rolled steel (CRS). You have round, hexagonal and square bars to work with and progression is in that order. 1/4 Grade 5 bolts might be easier than 6 mm square. Grade 8 will be a significant jump from grade 5.

For larger diameter start with 8mm hot rolled steel (HRS).