[APalusky]

I was reading Street Rodder magazine the other day, and on page 126 there is a 37 Ford Slantback. They made the bumpers for it out of square stock. I like the looks of those bumpers. I want to know how hard it would be to bend 1/2" steel rod?? I was thinking of placing one end into the receiver of my Blazer, and making my bends around a telephone pole. I would make up a bunch of 1 1/2"-2" spacers to go between two rods per bumper. Just need to know how hard it would be to bend (by hand) ?? Thanks.. Al

[bentwings]

I saw a guy bend it around his neck. I tried it and all I got was a sore neck. haha Gotta try everything once.
It's easy to bend with a torch or a bender. By hand it is pretty tough stuff.

[rexrogers]

1/2 " rod will bend real easy just go slow and get some extra you will need it getting the bends in the right spot and uniform is the hardest part. a few practice parts will let you know how much spring back is needed ect. you should be able to cold form the 1/2" if you start to step up in size then you will proably need some heat to form the bar.
Rex

[timothale]

I built a hosfield type bender and did a little wrought iron work a few years ago. Harbor freight now sells copies. The stuff i used was hot rolled and it bends easy. It also usually has a lot of mill scale on it. Solid cold rolled steel has a lot better finish, cost more and is harder to bend. Check out Cboy's build picts here, He has made a few cars from scratch . He used a lot of tubing and shows different methods he uses to bend steel.

[bondo]

Ayuh,... Bending 1/2" steel rod is pretty Easy,...

You need a way to hold the rod, where you want it to bend,...(the hitch reciever might work)
Then slip a piece of oversized pipe down over it to the point of the bend,+ Pull/ push to where you want it....
The pipe will force it to bend where you Want it to, rather than from the hold point to the pull/ push point...

[APalusky]

I thought I could tack weld one rod to the other so I could hold them both together. the idea with the over sized pipe sounds good. i think I would also cut a notch for the two rods to fit in, and smooth the edge over. It would be kind of rounded over. That way it wouldn't be such a hard sharp bend there. it will end up being a graceful bend. No real sharp turns. I know even with 1 1/2" spacers between the bent rods won't make the whole bumper all that strong if there was a frontal hit, but it would be a bumper. Now for the bumper brackets. I am smothing over the slots where the original brackets should go. I was thinking of 3/8" plate steel cut so that it would go into the frame rails, but then bend under the fenders before comming back up and have a 90 on the end so it could be welded, or bolted to the bumper. I am not sure how to have it all finished off though.. Power coat, anodize, paint it, or chrome them??