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Old 11-21-2018, 02:09 PM
Kerry Pinkerton's Avatar
Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Near Huntsville, Alabama. Just south of the Tennessee line off I65
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You can Rob but it's not really a novice technique. A couple things to keep in mind.

1- Tuck shrinking really only works well when the panel is fairly flat. Once it gets shrunk on the edges, it's much more difficult to get the tucking forks in place.

2- Therefore, start tuck shrinking as deep as you will think you will ever need. Stretching is easy...shrinking is hard so if you over shrink, you can easily stretch it back out.

3- Shrinking happens in a pie shape. If you want a wedge shaped shrink say 3" deep and you want to shrink 1/4 of an inch 3" into the panel. Think about how much the panel has to shrink on the edge...probably 1" and 1/2" about at about 1.5" in.

4- Finally, the way to shrink deeper into the panel is to make a big tuck and just close the EDGE. Leave the bubble above it. You can then, with practice, drive the shrink inboard.

It might help you to watch this video of my son Kris demonstrating our approach to tuck shrinking... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkaCJ5gC3jI

While you are on youtube you can search for tuck shrinking and there are others. There are lots of ways to do it and folks evolve a method that works for them. If someone is teaching you who says that their way is the only way...find another teacher.

Finally, you mentioned you were hammering out your tucks on the floor. I suggest you at the minimum use a piece of 2x12 until you get a stump. Wood seems to hold the tuck up and keep it from sliding open better. You can do it on concrete but you'll get grit in your panel and spend more energy than necessary.

When you find a stump (call up some tree surgeons...they can't split big stumps and have to pay to get rid of them. If you ask nice, they'll cut it to length for you. You want it about a couple inches above your crotch.
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