I have had the plans for the garden swing that Norm made on TNYW sitting around forever. I finally decided to build it and am almost done. I'm running into one problem that maybe someone can help with. Norm reinforced the top of the hangers for the swing with a 3/8" x 1-1/2" aluminum band. A good idea since there is a hole drilled in the top of the hanger that might weaken it. He fabricated them from aluminum flat stock. The video shows Norm clamping the flat stock in a vise and easily hand bending it into a right angle. Now, either Norm has some big biceps to bend the metal or he uses a grade of aluminum that I can't find. The big box stuff cracks. I went to a metals supply house and told them what I wanted. The stock I got had to be bent using a big hammer and a lot of pounding and still does not form well. The grade is 5052. The HD stuff is 6063 I think.
Anyone know what grade of aluminum that I need to use to bend for this project?
Thanks,
George