New Website - Iron Bonsai

Iron Bonsai’s are steel sculptures that resemble a plant or flower. Using no tools, long lengths of steel bars are twisted and bent into place by hand.

Steel scrolling is the art of a strongman.

The name “Iron Bonsai” comes from John Brookfield, grip master and professional strongman. With his blessing, the tradition is carried on here by strength & conditioning specialist Dan Cenidoza.

Each piece takes an hour or two to bend, but it takes years of dedication to grip training and hand strength to be able to bend this kind of steel in the first place.

After the steel is bent into place the scroll is painted and mounted into a decorative pot and the artwork is complete.

Grade 8

I just bent five Grade 8 bolts. I've bent two in the past (on the same day but spaced out about an hour apart) and that was the last time I've even attempted such a tough bend. I've been working on my technique and I think I finally found my groove! My last bending video awarded me some great pointers from many of my steel bending brethren on the net. Thanks to guys on the Gripboard.com and everybody who posted comments on my blog! Special thanks to Dennis Rogers, Chris Rider and Aaron McKenzie for working with me and for the encouragement.

Anyway, here's a video of the fifth destroyed bolt. They got easier with each successive bend. The first bend actually dropped me to my knees, I almost passed out. I almost quit. I almost didn't hit a HUGE personal record!

Grade 5 Bolt

Destruction

I did this after a quick grip workout that consisted of pinch bar curls (regular and reverse), beer mug curls with a kettlebell, wrist curls and wrist extension with the Formulator. I immediately went into bending the 60D nails with various grips (overhand, underhand, reverse & slim style). Before my hands recovered I attempted the horseshoe and got stuck with it... just couldn't take it any further. And from there I went back and forth between tearing. I managed my first behind the back card tear, my first notched phonebook (might have done that once before) and that was only the second time I've torn cards vertically. The spike gave me a hard time. My biggest problem with braced bending is not so much the strength but the pain tolerance required to bend things over your leg.

Chris Rider Red Nail Certification

http://strongmanchrisrider.blogspot.com/

Ironmind contacted me a couple weeks ago to ask me if I would serve as the witness for Chris Rider's red nail certification. For those unfamiliar with nail bending, the red nail is a 7" piece of cold rolled steel that is 5/16" diameter. If you can "U" this piece of metal you are among the elite in short steel bending.

Chris bent the nail and "cheesed" for the picture within 10 seconds. It was impressive, I can't even kink the damn thing!

After business was taken care of, Chris was kind enough to bring me a few horseshoes and show me how to bend. Thanks to his coaching, I was able to bend my first shoe today! I'm pretty excited about that and totally cool with the bruise on my leg!

Chris then proceeded to put on a mini strongman show for us; tearing decks of cards, license plates, driving nails... everything done with the ease in which he bent the red nail in. Don't get me wrong, none of these things are actually easy, he just made them look that way. This guy is seriously strong!

Check out his website at - http://strongmanchrisrider.blogspot.com/

Diesel Bending eBook

Jedd released his Bending eBook right when I was getting into serious grip training again, so ofcourse, I had to check it out. I don't think anyone has ever written about short steel bending in such depth. He covers not only the different styles & grips used but also different types of steel, nails, bolts, etc. He really gives you everything you need to know to get you started bending steel.

I'm not completely wet behind the ear when it comes to bending. Short bar bending was contested at 3 grip contests I've competed in. Not one of my stronger events but I have worked my way up to bending a respectable 6" grade 5 bolt (rated at 345lbs) and I have spent plenty of time on the Gripboard reading about bending. So even though I already knew some of the stuff presented in Jedd's book, it was nice to have it all in one simple, easy to read package without having to sort through pages of bending vs folding arguments.

Of course, Jedd is a far more accomplished grip athlete than myself. He's miles ahead of me when it comes to hand strength but what I didn't realize is how much more advanced his understanding of grip, bending in particular, is than mine. I definitely picked up some useful tips from the Diesel Bending book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, beginning or advanced, who has an interest in bending short steel.