[TheForge] Jesse James and Hofi

[James Binnion]

On Dec 16, 2011, at 11:43 AM, Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
> 
> I watched Wray raise an annealed aluminum panel into something 
> resembling a bowl.  He then challenged the notion of "work hardening" 
> and proceeded to take the now-stiff aluminum and return it to almost 
> dead flat and soft as it had been.  I must confess that had I not 
> watched him do it hisownself I would have thought him taking too many 
> sips off the jug.
> 

I just came back from a 4 day workshop with Kent White who is possibly the best automobile/aircraft body restorer there is and he showed a similar operation with aluminum of raising up fairly high, complex detail (looked like the lip around a headlight faring on a front quarter panel) in a sheet then flattening it back out again. I was to put it mildly impressed. I went there for a torch welding workshop where he showed us how to weld aluminum, steel, stainless and copper with the O/A torch. Loads of fun and the sheet metal demo was just a bonus.

James Binnion
jbin at well.com