Bending Certs First?

[David Horne]

Eric,

1. I haven't tested a blue. But matbe Pat could tell you by feel. But since all the strong challenge bars are 8mm thick I would think all will be tougher. But we will have all bars available from 75k up to 390k, so there should be one similar to a blue.

2. The bars will be ready real soon. I receive a large stock soon, and after recalibrating these they will be ready.

3. There is also the grade 5 and 8 bolts and the red on the gripboard list.

4. Witness will be required for the 200 and 220k clubs. 240k is going to be the level of which we need superstrict certification, ie. sending of the bar to the pre-selected witness for a dated certification, and videoing. Pat has said he will view the videos in the U.S., and then they can go on the grippage when they have been given the all clear. I know this is very strict, but it's the best way to go. It will be alot easier for certification to be verified at contests or get togethers for many.

David

[RSW]

1) Which of the challenge bars is closest to the blue in strength?

The weakest (200kg). I would guess that the blue will be ~170kg to fully bend, since a Blue is ~65% of the strength of a Red.

[stephen aish]

we all know 200k is 440lb and am i mistaken in thinking the blue is 260lb and red around 380lb. if so that would make every challenge bar way above a nail that has only been bent fully by 3 people Pat (Terminator), Gavin Holle and Mr. Brookfield ???

please tell me i am way off in my logic or there has been a typo somewhere

stephen

[David Horne]

Stephen,

You are off.

I tested an old red and it came in at 270k (595lb). If I remember rightly John Brookfield even tested a red out at 600lb.

There are 9 bars available tougher than the red, although we've only included 3 in the current challenge bar list. This can be altered as people get stronger.

David

[stephen aish]

thanks David,

now im not so scared any more

although i am still confused about the ratings of some bars-are they like the rating for the grippers we so frequently here of and best used as rough guidelines? i see a few posts above that RSW rates a blue around 170k when its rated by ironmind at 260lb? -i may be waiting for the penny to drop on this bending calibration but there are still grey areas unfortunately -thanks again for any help.

stephen

Edited October 16, 2003 by stephen aish

[Rob Vigeant]

Does anyone know what a 5 1/2'' grade 5 would be?

Thanks

[Bill Piche]

Just updated the bending category in the stats forum. Take a look. Thanks to David and Pat.

[David Horne]

Stephen,

I don't know if Ironmind even calibrated them. The only other people I've heard of doing some serious calibrating is Tom Black and Terry Duty. Tom only calibrated to a short bend, whereas I wanted to calibrate to about 80 degrees, the position I go into the 'crush' stage. I have to thank Tom becuase the method of testing I use is the method he uses. Remember that our challenge bars will be recalibrated with each new stock. I thought long and hard about this and this seemed the only feasible method.

Rob,

I've only tested one grade 5 bolt (sent from Steve McGranahan) and it was 220k, I would think that MAYBE 5 1/2'' would be about 230k.

David

[Bill Piche]

David, are you going to put "titles" of some sort associated with a certain level of bends?

[terminator]

I've only tested one grade 5 bolt (sent from Steve McGranahan) and it was 220k, I would think that MAYBE 5 1/2'' would be about 230k.

David

David,

The Grade 5 bolt you tested was actually 5.5"........so it is actually 220k.

[RSW]

thanks David,

now im not so scared any more

although i am still confused about the ratings of some bars-are they like the rating for the grippers we so frequently here of and best used as rough guidelines? i see a few posts above that RSW rates a blue around 170k when its rated by ironmind at 260lb? -i may be waiting for the penny to drop on this bending calibration but there are still grey areas unfortunately -thanks again for any help.

stephen

The only way to really tell is to have David Horne test a Blue. I was just estimating that since Terry Duty found a Blue to be ~65% of a Red, then David would probably measure it at ~170kg.

I would further guess that the first challenge bar (200kg) would be close to a Blue with 1" cut off, which would be a resonable first level for certification

Robert

[David Horne]

Pat,

Of course it was! Doh!!

So there you go Rob, 220k.

Robert,

I think you may be right. Testing will tell the tale. 200kg is a good start for certification.

Bill,

Thanks for all the work. That also goes out to Pat. As far as an overall bending name for the gripboard, I haven't thought of one as our 'challenge bars' are titled exactly that. But I suppose if you were thinking of an overall title, then maybe 'Samson Steel Bender' may suffice. But I'm not sure.

David

[Tom Black]

The only other people I've heard of doing some serious calibrating is Tom Black and Terry Duty. Tom only calibrated to a short bend, whereas I wanted to calibrate to about 80 degrees, the position I go into the 'crush' stage. I have to thank Tom becuase the method of testing I use is the method he uses.

I should add that there were two reasons I only did a short bend. The first was simply that I couldn't get enough weight on my standard loading pin (and didn't have enough plates at the time of my article) to bend some of my stock to the sticking point. The second reason was that I feel that with an explosive bend that the force to start the bend carries through most of the bend to the sticking point and that the higher number obtained may not reflect what it actually took to bend the bar. For example, if you bent a nail 90% of the way to sticking point, set it down for 2 minutes and then bent again that would be closer to the higher numbers obtained with that method. I think, however, for the purposes of what we are doing here that measuring to the sticking point is fine, as long as we are consistent and that we recognize that we are calibrating the bars differently.