Share a technique of shrinking metal that requires no fancy tools with roots traced back to the ancient egyptians.
The technique is called "tuck shrinking" nothing more then forming a ruffle in the metal and hammering that ruffle down causing it to collapse within itself thus shrinking.

Some might be reading this and think Ill never use this crap. But you are restoring a car with aftermarket panels that most of time need some tweaking. Say you are putting in some trunk drop offs and they dont fit. What do you do? Get out the cut off wheel and start cutting hoping you can bend and re weld the thing to fit.
With alittle knowledge on how to shape metal you can modify that part so much easier and faster then cutting and dicing.
If you need an idea on how that metal will react to shrinking or stretching get some paper and do to the paper what you need to do too the metal.
If you have to bunch up the paper to make it fit then it needs to be shrunk. If you need to cut slices in the paper to make it fit then it needs to be stretched.

All you need is a hammer, a ball peen works, just make sure its nice and polished no rough marks on the hammer. A hard surface to hammer on, I use a tree stump. The last tool needed is the tucking forks. Mine were bought from Hoosier Pattern, awesome tool built by metalcraftsmen.
http://stores.ebay.com/Hoosier-Pattern-Tool-Crib_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

You can also go down to horror freight and pick up some lady finger pry bars for about 10 bucks and make a really nice tucking fork. Just polish the ends, for about 10 bucks and maybe an hour or two you got a nice tool.

The tucking fork from Hoosier pattern. If you make one all you need to do is just make the business end look like this. The tucking fork is not fancy just two pieces of metal rod that are about 1/8-3/16 apart.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pf58904dc1d305d6f6c48e638555e7624/e8487c0a.jpg

Metal is placed in between the forks. The deeper you go into the forks the more shrink you will get.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p8086703de7a66e8b2d6393bd68f15b7a/e8487c07.jpg

Now just twist the metal in the forks. It doesn't matter which way you turn it.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p59100cacd07c33a8ed673737c5eee3ff/e8487c0b.jpg

Now twist the metal in the opposite direction.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p9bfc3a5f5e99da788b394234bf28c430/e8487bb3.jpg

Just another view
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p5dcc9d7fc8faacc953080ba2f31b1612/e8487ba0.jpg

What you get is the ruffle that will be crushed.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p3fe322864e754d43a514ba5f2c20158a/e8487b69.jpg

Another view
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pd57e26f8d1d7be4a7e692dfe768b9a6e/e8487b51.jpg

Now put the metal back into the forks this time not as deep. Doing this will help tighten the ruffle.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pb7ea89b00ca88eaa5ce28bf2d89c77c4/e8487b18.jpg

Ruffle has been tightened up and ready to be crushed and shrunk.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p0324af2feec91973133d5e63a396ba3a/e8487afe.jpg

The tools needed to crush the ruffle. I use a hard plastic hammer, others use a modified door skin hammer, others use a ball peen, no right or wrong here. I use a tree stump because it was free and works hard to beat that combination.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pbea2370dca9722a7410371e0ec8cc24e/e8487ace.jpg

To help trap the metal and make it shrink instead of just escaping by folding out you want to tap the end over. You can also tap the sides over. Trapping that ruffle will achieve better results. Kinda hard too see but just the top is tapped down.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p70ea40963e9c34f76165ef0d6e6ebf90/e8487ab6.jpg

Now place the ruffle against the hard surface and start crushing it down. Start in the back and work side to side, this will help drive the metal into itself.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p0e6354ae21a1f4eff1932322703ddf60/e8487a5f.jpg

Ruffle has been crushed down and some shrinking has been done to the metal. A good way to test to see if you did shrink the metal is feel it right after you get done. A good tuck shrink will feel warm, if you dont feel any heat then you didnt shrink the metal and ruffle just folded out instead of shrinking inside itself. Once you are done shrinking yu can fix any distortation in the metal by smoothing it out using a hammer and dolly. But use that lightly as you will stretch out the metal you just shrunk.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p4defeead9c403bbefe1b195aa46583ed/e8487a3f.jpg


To get an idea on what tuck shrinking can do...you can make this fender using nothing but a tucking fork, hammer, dolly and some time.
http://www.metalmeet.com/photopost/data/500/3pic.jpg

Here is a great short video on doing the tuck shrink method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkaCJ5gC3jI

You can even use a claw hammer to make the ruffles. Ive even used a pair of needle nose pliers to make small little tucks.

You can shrink and stretch the wheel wells to make your wheel well trim fit. Shrinking the edge of the wheel well will make it convex in shape, stretching the edge would make it concave.

Just some simple tools and alittle knowledge can make life easier...Eric

Man thanks, very cool to see 101 tutorials on here. Nice alternatice to an english wheel, though an EW would be a lot faster most of us don't have the budget for one, nor the room. I use my Dad's tools and he has a pair of the shrinker/ stretchers like in your first pick, a 48" break, and some anvils. SO far that stuff has gotten me by. Another useful thing to beat metal on I have found is a big chunk of lead. We have some 40 lb. blocks from our past racecars that work nicely. If you need to stretch something the lawn is a nice substitute for a leather bag of sand. Thanks again, not many people post pics on here so those are very nice to see as well.
Chris

too cool. Learned the old master techniques well ... Same goes for flame straightening- very good indeeed, no heat needed.!

wow that looks like a great technique and easy to master.

thanks, Eric

He is good at it.:thumbsup:

You don't see any cuts or blood blisters on those lilly white hands.:D

Rob

don't let the pictures fool you Rob. I think he hired George Gastanza as a hand model.

You don't see any cuts or blood blisters on those lilly white hands.:D

Rob

I dont allow myself to get cuts:) Ive got a drawer in my tool box full of gloves. GLoves and ear plugs are one thing I dont do much without.

George aint got nothing my me

If I put the gloves on, somebodys gonna get hurt.

Then again you youngsters are as toughned up as us old guys.:D

don't let the pictures fool you Rob. I think he hired George Gastanza as a hand model.

I think that was Joey Tribioni! http://bestsmileys.com/thumbs/2.gif




Nice work on the tuteral Eric. :thumbsup:

Sevt,
Once again, thank you VERY much for taking the time to help out those of us who are very interested in learning how to do metal work but don't have all the high dollar tools. I can think of a million places I can use the technique you just showed us.
:thumbsup:
Mike

By the way, would it be possible for you to jot down a list of important metal-working hand tools and what they would be used for? I bought a couple of round-flat, round/square curved body hammers and a few weird shaped small dollys, but that's it. I'd like to get more but I'm not sure what I need. I've seen you use the slapper, etc., but am not sure if there are different types and what's the best.
Thanks again for your help,

Mike

nice work sevt (eric?), thanks for sharing....btw, it was george who was the hand model, joey had the hand "twin" he found in a vegas casino (although i believe he did think they should try modeling)....damn, i watch too much tv. :wacko:
i notice you seem to have gotten the camera issues straightened out too, congrats and i/we look forward to more good stuff from you, hah!, no more excuses now,....thx again

Once again nice work Eric

check this video out pretty cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pm5_YhzpVE&mode=related&search=