I have to bend a cast triggerguard

[wbradbury]

Has anyone had success doing this? I've read it has to be an orange heat to do this but I'm still afraid I'll break it. It has to be tweaked a little on both planes, longitudinally and laterally. Will

[B.Habermehl]

 I usually need to bend every guard. What metal are we talking about? Wax cast brass or steel, or other? They all need treated differently. BJH

[Acer Saccharum]

I usually bend cast steel and cast brass cold, but I am usually making minor adjustments.

I make up 'fingers' jaws to mount in my vise. Two fingers on one side of the vise, and one finger on the other jaw. With this setup, one can bend the piece exactly where desired. Since the vise controls how much pressure, you get just as much bend as you want, no more.

[webradbury]

 It's cast steel.

[Mark Elliott]

Mild steel can usually be bent cold.   Wrought iron should always be bent hot.   Unless I have a very small bend in a long piece,  I heat it to bend it only because it is easier.   The only caveat is to keep it under a salmon color if there is a braze joint.    I use a propane/oxy torch with a rosebud tip to heat a steel/iron guard at the bend point.    I don't usually put it back in the forge for a small bend; just heat the bend point.   If you do it hot, you can bend in more than one direction and be more precise in your bend.  Usually,  I am pretty picky about those sorts of things. 

[jerrywh]

 Never try to bend Brass hot. Anneal and bend cold. If it brakes it wasn't the right alloy of brass. 

[Hungry Horse]

 Yellow brass can be bent small amounts cold, and greater amounts if annealed and then bent. Bronze alloys like most the investment cast fittings are a whole other animal. They may or may not behave like brass, and are a lot more brittle.Forged steel can be bent hot, or anneal and bend cold.

   Hungry Horse

[tuffy]

I think this is what Acer is referring to. Thanks to Ken G.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=13420.0

[rich pierce]

Can't go wrong bending steel hot, glowing red.  Like everyone said, if it was brass which it is not, it must be bent cold after annealing.

[wbradbury]

Success! I heated it to orange, held it in a vise and was able to make two bends in different spots to bring it into shape.  Took it slow, four times, testing the fit each time. Thanks to all for the advise. Will

[rich pierce]

Glad it worked. The challenge with bending castings that are nearly finished us not getting a little kink in there without enough stock remaining to file it out.