Starting from scratch
 

Good day! My name's Ryer and I know next to nothing about metal shaping. But that's why I'm here. For a very long time I thought metal shaping was ultra rad. Watching guys on TV and in magazines rock an english wheel or planishing hammer to create a custom patch or an entire panel. It's always been quite fascinating but also pretty inaccessible due to time/money/space, ya know, the usual. Well now that's changed; I've switched careers and my hobby of building racecars has become my full time gig. With that I've found a practical application and need for forming metal. I'll probably be a quiet lurker sponging up info from old threads for a while before I start piping up and asking questions.

Edit* Everyone likes pictures. Here's a couple of my first uneducated attempts at bead rolling.

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Cheers,
Ryer

Welcome! Nice project! Looks like you’ve undersold you’re skills in your introduction ;)
Good effort me thinks 👊

I agree! I see nothing at all wrong with that. I doubt I could do better. Welcome to the cult.

Welcome to the forum, Ryer.

Thanks gents! I've got a good eye for keeping a line but the concept of prestretch was completely unknown to me....or really any kind of metal movement. These first panels have a good bit of wave to them, bandaided in part by the ample fasteners.

The forum is already helping me, as I've learned that prestretch can and should be used...now to figure out when and how much.

Cheers