Straighten a bent barbell near Greensboro

[Nissan11]

I love collecting and training with old weightlifting equipment. I am especially fond of 1970s york Olympic bars. I normally straighten bars myself but have one that I need help with.
This bar has knurling in excellent shape but is bent on at least 3 axis' and I just can not come up with a good game plan for where to place the chains and jack to start straightening it. I ABSOLUTELY do not want the bar bar bent too far and then have to be bent back the other way. The bar is rated to handle 1000 lbs of weight but loses part of that every time the metal bends. I also do not want to use heat. It is bent about 1/10 " - 2/10" pretty much the whole way down the 7ft bar. The bar can flex a lot before bending which is what makes it so hard for me to straighten at home when bent in more than one spot.
Is there anyone in the greensboro or southern pines area, or within an hour or so who feels confident in straightening this? The collars are not removable in this pic which is part of why it is hard to tell where the bends are

 

[Nissan11]

The bar

 

[kaiser715]

The collars are not removable in this pic

Gotta ask first: so....do you have a pic in which the collars ARE removable??


Real question: what makes the collars not removable? welded? Shrink fitting?

 

[Will Carter]

I have a beam. And am familiar with barbells. But how much money do you want to spend? To not screw it up is going to take a minute or 30 per bend.

PS. If you can't get under a snatch it ain't the bent barbells fault.

 

[Nissan11]

I don't know how the collars are attached. They are not welded but I have never heard of anyone getting them off an successfully reinstalling them without the sleeves and a couple hundred lbs of weight sliding up the bar

 

[Nissan11]

I have a beam. And am familiar with barbells. But how much money do you want to spend? To not screw it up is going to take a minute or 30 per bend.

PS. If you can't get under a snatch it ain't the bent barbells fault.

I'm a powerlifter so the snatch talk is over my head. Pun intended.

I'm willing to spend $100 plus some beer, but again, I have a beam and a setup for straightening bars but this one is going to be difficult.

 

[Will Carter]

I could put it in the lathe and at least mark the run out if you wanted to know exactly which way things need to go. Probably just a $20 and beers. Then you could take it and spend your time bending it back.

 

[Will Carter]

oh. maybe nevermind on the lathe. forgot the collars are stuck

 

[77GreenMachine]

Since I’m a fat lazy slob and have only stuck to working out for about 6 weeks one time, I’m lost here. It’s seems we are talking a very very minimal amount of bend, and with my eyeball calibration the bar in the pic looks pretty straight to me. I’d likely never even know it was bent myself, so why is being dead nuts straight so important?

Not being sarcastic, just genuinely curious.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Quit being a puss, just load it up and lift til it bends.

 

[skyhighZJ]

Since I’m a fat lazy slob and have only stuck to working out for about 6 weeks one time, I’m lost here. It’s seems we are talking a very very minimal amount of bend, and with my eyeball calibration the bar in the pic looks pretty straight to me. I’d likely never even know it was bent myself, so why is being dead nuts straight so important?

Not being sarcastic, just genuinely curious.

#metoo

 

[Nissan11]

Since I’m a fat lazy slob and have only stuck to working out for about 6 weeks one time, I’m lost here. It’s seems we are talking a very very minimal amount of bend, and with my eyeball calibration the bar in the pic looks pretty straight to me. I’d likely never even know it was bent myself, so why is being dead nuts straight so important?

Not being sarcastic, just genuinely curious.

It does not sound like much bend, but when the bar is loaded with as little as 300 lbs (I deadlift and squat over 500 lb) the bar has a strong desire to roll until the 'low' points on each end are at the bottom. This means that when the bar is lifted out of the rack it will try to roll off of the lifters back. It also also means during deadlifts it will roll in the lifters hand. I dont want my bars rolling due to a bend.

 

[R Q]

 

[Will Carter]

Yeah you start putting north of 225 on a bar for a clean and/or jerk and you can start to feel a bent barbell. It's like the weight hits you twice. Once when you catch in the bottom and then again when the bar 'adjusts' itself to where it wants to sag. And you're not really gripping it either. It's on the fingertips and resting on your shoulders down there so it has all the freedom in the world to spin whichever way it wants.

 

[shelby27604]

lathe, a torch, and a lot of patience.

 

[77GreenMachine]

That makes sense. But y’all need to calm down with the lifting #overachiever

 

[obullfish]

That makes sense. But y’all need to calm down with the lifting #overachiever

Never had a problem with the 12-16 oz curls.

 

[YotaOnRocks]

I prefer wait lifting.




I wait until something with a motor or mechanical leverage is available to lift the weight.

 

[shelby27604]

I prefer wait lifting.




I wait until something with a motor or mechanical leverage is available to lift the weight.

So my forklift is what made me fat!

 

[paulevans76]

Are you going to actually use this bar? I'd always heard that if you straighten out a bent bar with heat it's going to be more likely to fail at that/those spots. I'd designate it a rack pull only bar and leave it as is. I've got one I bent a little that just stays on the ground as my deadlift/rack pull only bar, I've marked it bent side up so it doesn't try to spin out of my hands adjusting itself, and then I've got a nicer bar in the rack for presses, squats, oly stuff.

 

[Nissan11]

Are you going to actually use this bar? I'd always heard that if you straighten out a bent bar with heat it's going to be more likely to fail at that/those spots. I'd designate it a rack pull only bar and leave it as is. I've got one I bent a little that just stays on the ground as my deadlift/rack pull only bar, I've marked it bent side up so it doesn't try to spin out of my hands adjusting itself, and then I've got a nicer bar in the rack for presses, squats, oly stuff.

I am going to use it and I do not want to use heat. It is a very nice bar and I may ship it to Ivanko or another competition barbell manufacturer to be straightened.

 

[paulevans76]

Oh sorry I missed the part about not using heat. I would still think it would be prone to bending again after being straightened, regardless of heat. I get using cool old equipment with history, but will this bar be better than a new bar from one of the current popular manufacturers? Out of curiosity (I like old strength gear too), what is it about the old York bars that you like?

 

[a_kelley]

Why not use a set of v blocks and a dial indicator to mark hi spots, bend accordingly with a press, check, repeat as needed? Then you could straighten it yourself and not shell out money to have it done.. (I know, it was kind of discussed above about marking hi/lo spots in a lathe.. there again, your option of sending it off is definitely the easiest.

 

[Nissan11]

I love old York stuff. York made these bars back when they were milling plates and other companies were casting them. I have a lot of those milled plates too. The bars are iconic and easily identifiable from their split sleeves and donuts on the end. They are very strong compared to even most modern days bars.
This particular bar has about a 1/10" wave all the way down it. The big thing holding me up from starting is that I do not know what part of the bar is most straight so I do not know where to start. My usual setup is easy if the bar has a straight section or just one long bend on one axis.

 

[Reid]

hey man,

you re using the wrong bar. thats an olympic bar. not a powerlifting bar. they have different tensile strengths for different style if lifting.

power lifting bars are stiffer and dont bend til you get above 800LBS. Olympic bars are flexy and when y ou start adding high weight to them they stop returning to true. if you are bending bars this much dump that olympic bar and drop the $200 on a higher tensile bar.


just went to google to find some easy to reference. this is about the best i could find quickly.
Powerlifting Barbell vs Olympic Barbell - What's the Difference?

i used to power lift 20 years ago. had a trainer and a sponsor and all that mess. I got bonuses if he had to buy new bars.