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No, I'm not a particularly promiscuous homosexual, I'm rubbish at bending metal. Forks in the context of the Liquid Metal routine to be specific. This assumption is based on literally a day's experience but after seeing Greedoniz blow my mate's mind with said routine on Saturday I thought I'd have a crack at learning it myself. Off I went and bought the dvd and a big pile of the cheapest and therefore weakest forks Asda profers then jogged home and sat chuckling on my sofa ready to create all sorts of crazy cutlery sculptures.

Several seconds of consternation later and I realized that it wasn't quite so straight forward as Morgan and Greedoniz made it look. Obviously you need some finger strength but I'm not some limp wristed five year old and I assumed that the slightly better than average physical strength I've developed from years of relatively manual labour would be enough to put all sorts of kinks and bend in the flimsy forks I'd picked up. Wrong. I can barely move a tine, let alone bend it at 90 degrees. I simply cannot put a corkscrew in any part of the fork. Even a straightforward thumb bend leaves me winceing like a constipated gnome and hardly does anything to the bloody metalware.

I got some more forks, even flimsier this time, from Wilkinson's earlier but the effect is hardly better. I don't think I'm doing the moves wrong, after all they're about as easy to grasp as any move I've come across. Am I really such a wimp or does it take much longer than I thought to build up the strength for this stuff?

P.S. My thumbs hurt and have big red tine marks up them. Sniffle.

It's something I need to brush up on more. I'm probably going to order the 'Psychonetic Silverware' DVD this week which, by most accounts, appears to be the best on the subject.
Unless someone can suggest anything else.

A case of forking hell.

I have liquid metal, and one day soon I do intend to attempt to learn it. Can't seem to put my cards down at the moment.

I did, however, used to bend teaspoons and I found no problem there. I actually bought LM to rekindle my bending.

If I remember rightly, they were Tesco Value teaspoons. Perhaps the forks are similar. I also found that the cutlery used by cheap cafes to be excellent, almost without fail. This was to my advantage, and allowed for several 'impromptu' bendings at cafes/coffee shops around the Newcastle area (sorry about that. I'll replace them, honest).
It turned out that these were identical to the ones used in the hotel where I used to work and that they bought their cutlery from 'Booker', the cash and carry place.
I think I still have a box of Booker teaspoons somewhere.

Perhaps you could try these places? I'm assuming that most catering warehouses will stock cheap and therefore bendable cutlery.

Regards,

Mark.

I had the same problem and found the tesco value forks the best (and embossed both sides ) and when I went for the twist I just practised and went for it. The move is hard but when you get the sweet spot it does twist but you have to do it in one movement. A sort of concerted effort in one go... no half measures.

I hope this help as when I was in trouble I got no help , I even asked Banachek and even he said practise more.

PS. my wilko forks were like rock, way to go a quality

I can give advice on metal bending but the title of this thread is hilarious

I got some from the pound shop... a pack of 6 (forks, and I got spoons too).

They are surprisingly un-cheap looking, and are great to bend.

However, I got some even CHEAPER ones from Asda to take camping a while back, and they are actually more solid.

I therefore don't think low price = softer.

You could aways try bending whilst wearing a TT???

seige wrote:I therefore don't think low price = softer.

Yes you're right Seige cheaper is not necessarily softer. It is however a good guide and saves you walking through Harrods surreptitiously bending the Waterford Wedgewood.

Bronz, I suppose finger strength is something that'll come with time. I have a rock climbing book with some very handy finger exercises in it. Let's face it, you're going to have strong digits if your life depends on it.

Have you tried looking for some professional rock climbing books? They might have some ideas. I'm not a rock climber but I can spout verbatim what's in my book if it helps (via PM, of course). Bending forks is probably not the most efficient way to simply build up finger strength you see.


Mark

Cheers guys, any advice anyone wants to pm me would be gratefully received. A mate has the Psychokinetic Silverware dvd so I may have to check out Banachek's explanation of the corkscrew as Morgan is a bit lax with it in Liquid Metal. I'll also take a trip to Tesco to grab a load more forks, my cupboard isn't quite full of cutlery yet.

Most of the supermarkets are running a conspiracy against us metal benders having all recently changed their fork design to something more solid.

My theory is that we were buying them in such quantities that they thought that they would sell even more if the made them better quality. Only problem is that they're probably selling none in comparrison and have thousands left in stock

Fortunately, I bought about 200 packets of the realy soft forks before they changed

I have on occasion found cheapo forks to be rock solid. Always try a surruptitious bend in-store to find out!

My major other tip however would be that some cheap forks, especially with the longer tines, are cut badly and will often have one very thin, sharp tine, usually at one end or the other. Several times I have lacerated my thumb (and it's really not pretty - lots of blood, and I actually felt my skin give way with a small ripping sound ) trying to bend these forks, so be wise, and don't choose spiky tines!

I think the trick to this is finding the right forks and as dat pointed out there is a conspiracy afoot to ruin fork bending by the major manafacturers.
First of all it was the asda forks that were the best bet but then they changed them, then it was wilkinsons which were the same design but a tad more brittle. these were also changed (apprently)
Now although I haven't tried them myself I have heard that the best available are the woolworths cheapo forks.
If you need any additional help bronz then just let me know and we can go through it at the next meet up.

greedoniz wrote:If you need any additional help bronz then just let me know and we can go through it at the next meet up.

Which I'll be atttttt

Fair do's. The next meet's gonna be a the biggest bunch of benders yet then. Which will be hard after the lesbo rugby team episode.

I'm studying the Gerry & Banachek DVD at the moment (isn't Gerry annoying ) and shall venture out tomorrow to buy some cheapo forks.
Think I'll try the pound shop as the quality of their products tends to be unfit for everyday use but great for things like this.

I might wander into town in a bit and do a trawl of cheap fork outlets. Got a fiver's worth of Tesco's finest smart price forks this morning but overall they're not much bendier than Wilko's or Asda jobbies. The tines are easier but I bet Geoff Capes himself couldn't put a thumb bend in one.