i'll try to remember that

On several occasions I used a rubber block for sanding for that kinda work. Anywho, I always wanted to learn how to heat lead and fill small holes in with. Kinda self explanatory, but has to be difficult. Some people have the nack for metal work, I have NONE. I guess dad's truck will be a true test for me considering I've never fully rebuilt a vehicle before. Don't work to hard.....

On several occasions I used a rubber block for sanding for that kinda work. Anywho, I always wanted to learn how to heat lead and fill small holes in with. Kinda self explanatory, but has to be difficult. Some people have the nack for metal work, I have NONE. I guess dad's truck will be a true test for me considering I've never fully rebuilt a vehicle before. Don't work to hard.....

Bob the Builder-what I get for pickin' at Paul I guess

No, I just thought about it yesterday cause there's this show that comes on called Handy Manny. The boys like watching it and I got the theme song to it stuck in my head.

http://www.bobthebuilder.com/au/index.html

Bob can fix anything

Therapy, I could use some therapy about now, I don't know if it should involve a hammer though. It takes a lot of patience and practice to be able to straighten a body panel with a hammer and dolly. Otherwise whatever you happen to be working on could look like you had added a couple of syrup buckets to the repair. As a young man, I worked at a Buick dealership in Atlanta. I still remember my body repairman friend laughing and shaking his head over a Buick Lesabre that had been hit in the left rear quarter panel. The owner had climbed into the trunk with a claw hammer to work the dent out, and when he had finished it looked like a tow sack full of walnuts. I've already fixed the worse part, he had said before leaving it to be repaired. I am also reminded of something an older fellow once told me. Don't never hit no Harley Davidson with no hammer. Now things are all turned around, and I am the older fellow. Dammit boy, how did this happen?

Body hammers are a little different than what I ever pictured. They are quite small and light.

The theory is pretty simple. Metal streches when it is dented or bent. Just beating the dent out with a heavy

hammer can't work because you are trying to stuff more material back into the original shape.

The idea is to shrink the metal back to its' original volume. If it's done properly, there will little or no

filler necessary. (In theory that is - I have a long way to go to get to that point)

The therapy part comes with the tapping and studying of the repair, and watching it change as you work.

Sounds mystical - and it might be. You know - "Zen and the Art of Mack Beating" or something like that.

Seriously, it is pretty interesting, at least to me.

And, yes Joe, lead work might indeed be next. All of the old seams and

smoothed areas on a car body were finished with lead before painting. I think there is a real art to lead work,

and I don't know anything about it.

I just think metal bumping is a better way to repair panels rather than plastering on fiberglass filler.