NAIL WEIGHTS How to Get Started With Bending
	There are two ways to get started with bending nails.  The difference is based off of time and money. 1).  IronMind Bag-O-Nails.  This is for the guy with money and/or no time.  This bag is a great way to get started with bending, as it has 4 levels of nails to work with, and about 25 of each of them.  There's a simple nail to learn technique with (White), a harder one to practice with (Green), and then two other harder ones that test your bending power (Yellow + Blue).  The blue, they say, is roughly the equivalent of a 60D nail, and for the most part this is perfectly true.   2).  Hardware Store!  Get off your butt and go to the hard ware store and find the Hot Rolled Steel (HRS).  Buy 6 to 9 feet of 3/16" HRS, and 3" of 1/4" HRS (and 3/16" square stock!).  Also pick up a pair of bolt cutters.  A hack saw is an option, but trust me, the bolt cutters will save you plenty of time and effort.      With this steel, cut the 3/16" steel, cut it down to 6" lengths, and this is the White nail.  Only cut a few pieces like this, as it should be pretty easy to bend.  Practice form, and learn how to do it.  With the rest of the 3/16" HRS, cut it down into 5.75, 5.5, 5.25, and 5" pieces, the 5" piece being equivalent to the Green nail.  Work your way down slowly, and don't rush it.  Once you can bend the 5" piece, spend a few more work outs bending just that.  Continue to work on form.   Once you are good at the 5" x 3/16" HRS, you have two options.           1).  Move to 3/16" Square-Stock, and start at a 6" piece and work your way down to a 5" piece.  (recommended)           2).  Move to 7" x 1/4" HRS, the Yellow nail equivalent.       If you can bend the 7" x 1/4" HRS, that's pretty good.  Now cut it smaller and smaller until you can move down to the 6" x 1/4" HRS, or the Blue equivalent.  Once you reach this level, you've developed a fairly good level of bending strength.  From here, it's time to have fun.  In no particular order: A).  Buy 60D nails!  10 cents a piece, buy 20 bucks worth.  Bend them for friends.  There are many different varieties of 60D's, so when you find a new one, buy a lot, as they may change stock or brand.  I wish I bought more of my first brand I found.  Also look for the shiny ones, they tend to be much harder than the dull ones, though I've found some pretty hard dull 60D's. B).  Buy 6" x 1/4" hex-head bolts and carriage bolts.  40 cents a piece.  Buy as many as you wish.  The best part about these, is they also come in 5.5, 5, 4.5, and 4" sections.  The sell them in 25 packs for reduced prices.  A good training technique is to buy a pack of 25, 6"ers, and 25, 5.5"ers, and 5"ers.  Over how ever many work outs it takes, bend all the 6" bolts.  When you are completely finished, start with the 5.5" bolts.  Then move down to 5" bolts.  It should take a few months, but by the time you are done, you'll have some strong hands and your technique will be pretty good. C).  Buy 1/4" Square Stock.  This is my favorite bend.  It has a unique feeling to it, and is much harder than 1/4" HRS.  Start at about 6.5 inches, and work your way down to 5".  I would say that a 5" bend of 1/4" Square stock is pretty impressive!  D).  Buy the 30lb bucket of Timber Ties!!!  I love these nails!  Bending for time, for reps, or for just simple warm ups, these nails are awesome.  At "just easier than the Yellow", they are a great beginners nail, a two-at-a-time nail, or "just for fun" type of bend.  You'll never regret buying this bucket of nails. E).  Though I have no experience with this, buy Cold Rolled Steel.  The process leaves the steel much harder and less flexible, making for a much harder bend than similarly sized nails.  Start with 1/4" CRS at 6.5 inches, and work your way down. F).  Buy 3/8" Aluminum.  Fun to bend, and has a different feel to it.  Also, it just looks impressive to bend 3/8" of anything.     Once you've played with these styles of steel, it's time to move into the realm of harder steel.  5/16" HRS and Grade-5 bolts.  5/16" HRS is just thicker steel and a much harder bend, while the grade-5 title to the bolts means it is made out of a hardened steel.      Right now I'm using the pack of 25 grade-5, 6" x 1/4" bolts, and bending them until I can finish off the pack, and will then start in on the 5.5" grade 5's.  After that, I'll make a run at 5/16" HRS and then see if the RED nail is a reality.
			NAIL:              DIMENTION:                 WEIGHTS: White                   6" x 3/16"                       110 Green                  5" x 3/16"                        160 Timber Tie           6" x 1/4"                         190 Yellow                 7" x 1/4"                         210 Blue                     6" x 1/4"                         260 60D's                   6" x 1/4"                         260-330 1/4" square           6" x 1/4" square               330 Grade-5               6" x 1/4"                          345-365 RED                    7" x 5/16" CRS                385+ For better and more accurate lists, check out Strongmans Nail Bending Page.
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