Plastic Coated Playing Cards

Tearing decks of playing cards has been associated with the strongman for quite some time. In the old days the decks were made of paper and several performers were credited with tearing multiple decks at the same time.

Most of today's decks are made of a tough paper also, however, the cards are covered with a PLASTIC coating. The plastic makes the cards of today more durable, slippery, pliable, and just down right tough.

I use what is known as the overhand tear. This is basically the same motion as taking the lid off of a jar. It takes a strong grip to squeeze the cards tight enough to prevent them from slipping. The wrists are then called upon to generate a tremendous shearing motion to successfully tear the cards. In addition, the hands must be tough enough to resist being cut by the sharp plastic edge as it is torqued into the skin.

Pictured is a popular name brand deck that I tore in half in just a few seconds.

Adjustable Wrenches

The bending of an adjustable wrench requires powerful hands and wrists, tough palms, and extremely strong thumbs. You may be asking yourself why strong thumbs? Because after getting an initial bend by pushing down over my leg, the next step is to wrap the handle around my thumbs by twisting my wrists. Shown here are several sizes of adjustable wrenches I have bent in this manner. They are 8", 10", and 12" - all are drop forged steel.

Spike Bending...Un-braced

Among the most widely recognised feats of the Oldetime Strongman is the bending of a steel spike. There are many different sizes of spikes, the ones I am going to mention here are from left to right the 60d, 70d, and 8 inch log spike.

The standard strongman bend - the 60d. This spike has the dimensions of 1/4" thick by 6" long. It is the spike normally performed with both by the strongmen of old and the modern strongmen as well. The head and the point are wrapped in a piece of cloth, handkerchief, bandanna, small piece of supple suede, something to protect the hand without adding any additional leverage. The spike is then grasped tightly in the grip and bent with the strength of the hands and wrists. The hands do not make contact with the legs, abdomen, ground, floor, wall, or anything else that would aid in the bend. This is a demonstration of hand and wrist strength.

The 70d is a considerably larger spike that measures 5/16" thick by 7" long. The increase in length makes this spike more awkward than the 60d while the increased thickness makes it substantially harder to bend as well. Again, this is performed with a small but adequate amount of hand padding and UN-braced.

The 8" log spike shown is 5/16" thick twisted square stock measuring of course 8" long. Not only is this spike extremely strong it is quite a challenge to have enough flexibility coupled with enough strength to bend it in an UN-braced manner.

There are several other large spikes that are used in the strongman demonstrations as well, they typically measure 3/8" thick by 10" or 12" in length and are bent by pushing down over the thigh or hip. That is a style known as braced and will be a topic for another day.

Tearing License Plates

Another great oldetime feat is legitimately tearing a license plate in half. By legitimately I am referring to a plate that has not been altered by making a "notch" or a cut in the edge to be torn.

Pictured are a pair of plates that I tore at the same time, that's right, two plates together - torn at once. This particular pair were torn at the 25th reunion of the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen (A.O.B.S.) dinner on June 7, 2008 during "Slim The Hammerman" Farman's "Rising Stars of Strength" show. My presentation was concluded with the tearing of these plates, which were verified as unaltered immediately beforehand by several strength notables who were in attendance.

A Sculpture of Steel

I also practice a form of scroll work with long lengths of steel bar. The picture to the left shows a bar that began as a straight piece of 1/2" square steel at a length of 20 feet. Over a period of several hours I twisted, coiled, and bent this piece into the flowing work of art now seen.

Scrolling an "Odd Object"

Scrolling - multiple bends in the same piece of steel.

Odd Object - implement other than one traditionally used in a performance of oldetime feats.

One of the feats that I have become known for is the scrolling of a tool, in the case at hand, a framing hammer. This is an extremely difficult feat of strength due to many factors. First off, hammers are not supposed to be bent in this manner or even at all. They are tempered steel and are very tough. When putting the power to an implement of this type, the steel wants to "load" on itself like a giant flat spring. In addition to this, the bends are made in opposite directions. As one bend is being completed, precision needs to be applied as to not undo the other.

Another hindering factor is the length. The general thought is that the longer the object the greater the leverage. This is true, however when dealing with complex designs the increase in length also transfers into an increase in difficulty because of the distance from the bend to the hand and the ability to control the piece. Think of it this way, what is easier to hit a nail with? A hammer grasped near the head or grasped near the end of the handle? The farther away from the target area, the more difficult to control.

Pictured above is a 24 oz. tempered steel framing hammer. It's overall length was 15-3/4" prior to being scrolled.

An Oldetime Favorite - Bending Horseshoes

One of the greatest overall strength feats is the bending of a horseshoe. There are several styles that can be used in the performance of this feat, my personal favorite is the "push - pull" on the side of the leg. I feel that this is a more difficult technique and requires greater wrist and hand strength to be successful. I also like to perform a variation I came up with that does not use any bracing against other body parts, doing the bending while only making contact between my hands & wrists and the horseshoe. More on my un-braced horseshoe bends at another time.

There are several designs that can be made from the twisting of a horseshoe. One of the classic strongman designs was to bend the shoe to 180 degree's which will make an "S" shape. "The Mighty Atom" Joseph Greenstein, would make the "W" pattern in his shows. This was done by continuing past the 180 mark and bringing the "legs" of the shoe back around, thus resulting the pattern of an "W".

"The Human Vise" Pat Povilaitis created a design known as "The Horseshoe Heart". He has accomplished this by bending the horseshoe the entire way around and continuing on until the heels of the shoe are lined up in front of each other. This has become the standard design which is imitated by strongmen all over the world - myself included, as I have received instruction from this Master Strongman.

I mentioned in the previous post that I have some unique feats, this carries into the horseshoe design also. Looking to have something different in the realm of horseshoe bending, I began to do my own original design. I call this the "paper-clip". I continue to crush the shoe all the way down until the "legs" are parallel with the twist. Pictured is a 3/8" thick by 1" wide #5 steel horseshoe that I "paper-clipped". It is shown with a quarter for scale.

Getting Started

Welcome! You've found the blog of Oldetime Strongman Chris Rider. With this website I will be sharing with you some of the many oldetime feats of strength that I perform, along with some new feats that I have created to keep my shows fresh and original. I can be reached for questions and bookings at strongmanchrisrider@gmail.com . Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back often for some of the most unique feats of strength being performed today.