Make your own custom bend
After three failures, including a local tubing shop, of bending a stick; I finally took the advice regarding bending from several folks including VAF respondees. My stick is bent forward at the top and has an "S" below it to bring the stick back closer to me since the top bend moves the grip forward. Here's what I did if you want to bend your own.
Use a piece of scrap 1 x 4 lumber and drilled at 3/8" hole to represent the bolt hole in the stick. Your brass insert will fit this and allow you to actually test the 'stick' in place. Trim the top of the 'stick' to accept your grip (I have an Infinity grip and just cut a slot for the wire. It took me four tries to get exactly what I wanted. The early templates can be cut apart and screwed back together at different angles.
Ordered a couple of 2 ft pieces of the proper 4130 tubing, pounded in a wood plug on one end. Then filled with 'play ground sand and tamped/ shook to settle the sand. Pound in a plug at the other end
Clamp the sand-fill tube to something fairly solid and ensure you have a 'working area' that's not to cramped. keep your wooden stick pattern handy I used a broad cutting torch (wear welder's goggles so you can see and to protect your eyes) set to a neutral flame. Heat the metal to dull red and bend small portions at a time matching to your pattern.
When cool, use your pattern to locate and drill the cross-hole for the bolt; cut to length and use a vise to narrow the base end for the bottom. Use Van's stick for a pattern a thickness gauge (My bottom piece was 0.050") and make & fit a "U" shaped piece for the bottom. I left it untrimmed and built a simple jig to hold it in place for welding. Trim to match Van's stick and drill and you have a beutiful custom stick.
If anybody wants to try this, I'll be happy to e-mail pictures of the patterns or stick. If you really want, I would mail tracings or the actual final pattern. This was time-consuming, but the stick comfort is everything I wanted.
Harold
