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Which Tungsten bucking bar?

T

Toddav8r

Active Member
OK...I've drank the kool-aid and have decided to spend the money on a Tungsten bucking bar. Now I'm trying to decide on which one to buy. Which shape/size is really the most optimal for building an RV? I've narrowed it down to:
1. SteinAir
2. Dan @ websites.expercraft.com/qtrmiledan
3. www.buckingbar.net by Webster

I see there has been many purchased recently, and I would like to know why one shape would be bettter than the other. Is everyone very pleased with thier particular purchases? Does someone wish they had purchased a different shaped bar? Or does it really matter? I just want to be sure and get the right one for that kind of money...

Thanks,
 
I purchased the one from www.buckingbar.net. I like it because it has a slight angle machined on it which allows me to get it into tight spots but still keep it square to the rivet. I looked at Stienair's (I don't remember if it had an angle or not) and think it might be easier to control. I haven't seen Dan's.

In short - I don't think you'll be disappointed with any of them. I would think you could grind and polish a bevel on Stienair's or Dan's if it doesn't already have one.

You're call, Big Guy! Good luck!
Fred
 
I have Webster's also. The angle is nice. They claim to have built an entire RV-8 with that one single bar. Good enough! Dean is a REAL stand up guy as well. :cool:
 
The one from Stein Air doesn't have the angle (or didn't when I bought it).

I wish it did though, that would be useful. And I don't think I want to try to grind it down myself.
 
ccrawford said:
The one from Stein Air doesn't have the angle (or didn't when I bought it).

I wish it did though, that would be useful. And I don't think I want to try to grind it down myself.
Click to expand...

Easy to do on the disc sander, no problems when I did mine!
 
ccrawford said:
The one from Stein Air doesn't have the angle (or didn't when I bought it).

I wish it did though, that would be useful. And I don't think I want to try to grind it down myself.
Click to expand...


I think the tungsten alloys (w/ copper) these guys use machine like cast iron or mild steel.
 
Stein bar

I have the Stein bar - I just used it to set all the wing rib to main spar rivets. I had no drill out, all the shop heads are great (but there are a few smileys on the other side), and I didn't use any tape on the bar or the spar to "protect from bucking bar damage".

The only bad thing about it was I dropped it on my toe!

It is so small that I don't think I'll miss the angle - I can hold it end on in a small space.

Good luck,

dave
 
$$$ Save your money...

I emailed Dan, asked to send a check to save the Paypal fees and he basically told me to go *(&^% myself. Since, here in Texas we've found the same bar stock cut to whatever size you wish for about $30.00. So, I ask why spend $100.00-$130.00 FOR a bucking bar you can have cut for Less...?
 
LifeofReiley said:
here in Texas we've found the same bar stock cut to whatever size you wish for about $30.00.
Click to expand...

Darrell,

For that price, I'll fly over and get one - and I don't even have a current project! (gotta think of the future....).

Seriously, I'd love to have one if they are that cheap - can you get me one?

Paul
 
LifeofReiley said:
I emailed Dan, asked to send a check to save the Paypal fees and he basically told me to go *(&^% myself. Since, here in Texas we've found the same bar stock cut to whatever size you wish for about $30.00. So, I ask why spend $100.00-$130.00 FOR a bucking bar you can have cut for Less...?
Click to expand...

I wish I'd have known THAT! :mad: I'm just south of Austin. I'd actually like to get ("make") one a little larger. LoR, Are you willing to share your source? If so, please shoot me an email.

Fred
magaref "at" hayscisd.net
 
The Scoop

I can't take the credit for this find as another area builder was involved and snooped the deal out. I will email and ask if there's a marketing plan on his end.

One thing to remember, this is cut bar stock. No special angles or fancy polishing here. But then again, it's just a bucking bar... ;-)
 
What is it?

Are you sure of what you've got? Some time ago there was a thread about using depleted uranium from airliner counterweights for bucking bars. Similar density to tungsten alloy, but with the unfortunate side effect of being radioactive.
 
I went with the Webster Tools bar as Chad mentioned. Since pricing was similar, I thought carefully about their size and imagined all the hard to reach areas, small clearances laterally between clecoes, etc., where I would need it. I felt it's size fit best. I have now used it for the past week and love it.
 
Tungsten!

I just bought a tungsten bucking bar from Dan @ websites.expercraft.com/qtrmiledan. I was a little skeptical about the bar (not the seller though) but I finally got a chance to try it out today. Very nice. The one I have is just a little rectangle but it is a heavy little bugger. It worked very well. If you have the cash pick yourself up one and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Dan was a great guy to deal with too.
 
WOW!

I can't believe what was posted! I simply replied to his requests for a discount with - the price is $100- shipped, your choice of payment. No profanity, sarcasm or attitude. Wouldn't be fair to others that paid by check to discount $3.20 (paypal fee on $100) for him. The bars I have are CNC machined, tungsten, copper, nickel alloy. Designed for this purpose- machinable, ductile- not brittle. Not radioactive. With tungsten bar, shipping 2 ways and shipping insurance- my cost is about $75.00 per bar. I've worked hard to find a supplier, develop and deliver the best product, priced below the competition, with the best service, quick replies, next day shipping with tracking info. Take it out of the box and start riveting.
 
Tungsten bar comparison

qtrmiledan said:
I can't believe what was posted! I simply replied to his requests for a discount with - the price is $100- shipped, your choice of payment. No profanity, sarcasm or attitude. Wouldn't be fair to others that paid by check to discount $3.20 (paypal fee on $100) for him. The bars I have are CNC machined, tungsten, copper, nickel alloy. Designed for this purpose- machinable, ductile- not brittle. Not radioactive. With tungsten bar, shipping 2 ways and shipping insurance- my cost is about $75.00 per bar. I've worked hard to find a supplier, develop and deliver the best product, priced below the competition, with the best service, quick replies, next day shipping with tracking info. Take it out of the box and start riveting.
Click to expand...

I purchased tungsten bars from both Dan and Dean (sounds like a music group!), and yes, I will admit to being a tool junkie! My experience with Dan was just as Dan has stated, offering me my choice of payment. The seller who accepts PalPal, absorbs the PalPal fee in exchange for guaranteed payment and no problems with bad checks, etc.. Dan will also accept a check which will cost you more and is riskier for him. Many sellers won't! We all know this stuff is expensive, and a price of $100 to have a bar at your door seems like a good deal all around. I doubt that anyone thinks that Dan or Dean is getting rich from providing these bars. It's also difficult to believe that any seller would deliberately try to alienate someone in such a small market that has a popular and far-reaching forum as this!

About the bars: Deans is longer and thinner, and I bought mine before he started putting angles on them. I sanded an angle on mine of just under ten degrees the day I received it. Before sanding, It had a volume of about 42 C.C.'s, Dan's is slightly larger at just over 46 C.C.'s. Dan's bar is shorter, but more brick-like with wider and thicker working surfaces. The bar from Dean is good for getting under flanges and hard to reach narrow places. Using the ends of the bar to buck will concentrate the mass to the rivet. The bar from Dean has had the edges rounded and sanded more; there are no sharp points on it anywhere. Dan's bar has edges that are are more squared and machined-like, but you can do whatever smoothing you like on a sander.
I like and am keeping both bars! FWIW!
 
LifeofReiley said:
I emailed Dan, asked to send a check to save the Paypal fees and he basically told me to go *(&^% myself. Since, here in Texas we've found the same bar stock cut to whatever size you wish for about $30.00. So, I ask why spend $100.00-$130.00 FOR a bucking bar you can have cut for Less...?
Click to expand...


I'll take 2 cut to 1"x1.5"x4" Let me know who to contact.

-Jeff
 
RV_7A said:
I'll take 2 cut to 1"x1.5"x4" Let me know who to contact.

-Jeff
Click to expand...

I haven't even ordered the kit yet - but I'm collecting tools and setting up my workshop. I'll take one of these as well, please advise for a contact.
 
Info please

LifeofReiley said:
I can't take the credit for this find as another area builder was involved and snooped the deal out. I will email and ask if there's a marketing plan on his end.

One thing to remember, this is cut bar stock. No special angles or fancy polishing here. But then again, it's just a bucking bar... ;-)
Click to expand...

As another almost local Texan, I would like purchase info as well.
Thanks.
 
Dan's tungsten

Well, I ordered Dan's bucking bar and love it! I use it almost exclusively now. I sent him the money through PayPal and had the bar 3 days later. It is worth every penny I spent! (I can't believe someone actually got upset because he wouldn't discount 3 bucks.)

The bottom line is this: If you're serious about your tools, spend the money and get a chunk of tungsten, whichever one you decide matches your personal preference. I have never seen a post from anyone who has spent the money and regretted it.
 
Be Careful!

I have Webster's from buckingbar.net and like it. Do be careful with these bars though. I've only had it a couple of weeks and it has already injured two bucking partners. One has a nice bruise above his knee and the other has a cut on his forehead. :eek:
 
Reach that "Zen" state.

apatti said:
One has a nice bruise above his knee and the other has a cut on his forehead. :eek:
Click to expand...

Then don't throw the bar at your assistants! Lashing out at your helpers when frustrated will only make them think twice about helping you. :rolleyes: ;) :D

Fred
 
FredMagare said:
Then don't throw the bar at your assistants! Lashing out at your helpers when frustrated will only make them think twice about helping you. :rolleyes: ;) :D

Fred
Click to expand...

LMAO - That made my day!
 
Danny's bar

I received my tungsten bar from Danny today. I am very pleased with the appearance and finish of the bar. Will be a couple of days before I can use it.
19 degrees in Georgia today.
Danny was very good to work with. He notified me when it shipped and took my personal check with no hassle.
Thanks Danny,

Paul
RV-8, eventually.
 
I got the one from SteinAir. It works just fabulous; better than any other I have used. It worked so well, I decided to also get the different-shaped one from buckingbar.net (Dean Webster). It's longer, slimmer, and probably heavier than the one from Stein. One end is angled. I haven't used it yet.

There's a good picture on the buckingbar.net site of that one in someone's hand. There's a pic on my tool page of the SteinAir one in my hand. That should give you relative sizes.
http://www.meyette.us/tools.htm#tungsten

I expect that these 2 bars will be about all I ever need in the future.

I also looked into buying bulk tungsten over the internet, but in the end, I just went with Dean's:
http://www.marketech-tungsten.com/index.html and a couple other places - Google "tungsten bar". They also have info there on machining characteristics of tungsten.

brian
 
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FredMagare said:
Then don't throw the bar at your assistants! Lashing out at your helpers when frustrated will only make them think twice about helping you. :rolleyes: ;) :D

Fred
Click to expand...

Then what method of negative reinforcement do you use when a bucker tips over a rivet and you have to drill it out? :D

The one with the bruise on the knee didn't come back until the he thought the riveting was done (actually there were eight left; but it was too late for him to back out). The guy with the head injury came back the next day. So, what lesson did we learn? If you hit them in the head hard enough they won't know better not to come back! :)
 
Got mine a while ago. Looks promising (it will take some time until I've something to rivet). This is the table I used to do my selection. This is done in end of January so there might be changes after that.

 
Weight

Pirkka said:
Got mine a while ago. Looks promising (it will take some time until I've something to rivet). This is the table I used to do my selection. This is done in end of January so there might be changes after that.
Click to expand...

Interesting how all of the bar designs from 5 different vendors are essentially the same weight....

gil in Tucson
 
Bucking Bar

Hi,everyone!

I have been producing and offering tungsten heavy bucking bars for many years(you may see details in my web site www.buckingbar.cn , but I do not know how dose the bars using, I hope someone who may know it give me some ideas

Thanks milloins in advance for your time
Hanns
 
I started using the Webster bar last fall and haven't looked back. It allowed me to do all my bottom wing skins without a helper... you can hold that little tungsten bar with two fingers and it still has enough stability.
 
prkaye said:
It allowed me to do all my bottom wing skins without a helper...
Click to expand...

I've been doing wing about ? year now all by myself and now waiting (I'll do that outside and waiting proper weather) that I could prime it from inside. Then I wish I would have someone to help me and I wouldn't have to do everything by myself. Now you are saying, I should... or I could do it alone. ;)
 
well it wasn't exactly comfortable.... my arms got some bruises pressing against the edges of skins, contorting around trying to reach everything. If you have short arms it would be a real challenge. Had to use a few blind rivets, but not many. Took about 6 hours per wing.
 
hanns said:
Hi,everyone!

I have been producing and offering tungsten heavy bucking bars for many years(you may see details in my web site www.buckingbar.cn , but I do not know how dose the bars using, I hope someone who may know it give me some ideas

Thanks milloins in advance for your time
Hanns
Click to expand...

I have one of these bars now. Its great ! I tell you that you cant get a better price. I had mine shipped to me in Australia for less than just the bar itself. They also have Paypal. A+++ from me :)
 
Grinding Tungsten

Just a word of caution for those of you considering reshaping a tungsten bucking bar:

Experienced machinists always use caution not to inhale dust from grinding tungsten. If it's an option, wet grind it on a diamond wheel to keep the dust down. I'm not exactly sure what the risk is, but I've seen a number of machinists take it very seriously.

M
 
If you are curious like I was, Google "tungsten grinding hazards" and you will see that most or all of the hazards appear to be from the 2% thorium that is added to tungsten electrodes, the ones with the red band. Thorium is naturally radioactive, emitting alpha particles and a few beta rays.

Compared to smoking or driving a car, grinding tungsten is completely safe, but wear a mask and clean up your grinding dust anyway.

As far as I have seen, tungsten bucking bars don't have thorium added anyway, so no real concerns for an occasional grind.

BTW, we carry 3 styles of tungsten bars at a great price.
 
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