Advice Please: Bending Steel Strap

Depending on your skill and determination you should be able to do wnat you want to do with a hacksaw, vise and a BFH. The cost of that material is low enough so that if you end up throwing your project through a window in frustration, you won't be out much.

It may take you a try or two to figure out the "bend radius" thing. That's where to mark and line up the strip against the edge of the vise jaw to have the bend come out where you really want it, like for wrapping around those shelf boards.

You won't have problems with the strip cracking, unless you bend and unbend the same spot several times.

Here's a tip for making "U" shaped bends which are too narrow to clear the jaws of a vise. I struggled far too many years before someone showed me this one.

Think of a "W". Make a 90 degree bend in the center of what will be the bottom of the "U", forming the central point of the "W". Then make the other two 90 degree bends to complete the "W". Finally, set the two lower points of the "W" on a hard surface and use your hammer and something as a punch to "unbend" that central point of the "W". Presto!

So, how many of us never stopped to realize that the letter name (technically it's called a grapheme.} for a "W" comes from it looking like two "U"s side by side?

Good luck,

Jeff

Depending on your application, consider bending the steel and then cutting the wood to fit. Should be easier to get a tight fit.

Slick. I like it.

I don't know if I noticed before then but it came home to me in sixth grade when they started teaching us French. The French call it a double 'V'.

"Darren Harris" wrote: (clip) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Do you have access to welding? One way I like to make sharp bends that are precisely located is to cut part way through with a hacksaw, make the bend, and then weld the open cut.

Making bends in the vise as you propose will be made slightly more complicated by the presence of the holes in the strap material. If you can arrange to makie the bends right on the widest part of the holes it will be easier, but if any of your bends go slightly across the edge of a hole, the vise may not give you enough control of the metal.

I thought every schoolboy knew that.

Here's a tougher one: where does the name "ampersand" for the & symbol come from? No fair using Google, &c.

I had to use Google. Very interesting! The etymology of words can be very enlightening.

Lane

Thanks a lot.

It looks like I'll have to take a shop.

Darren Harris Staten Island, New York.