Dear Olavi,

> > Do you have any suggestions what could be done from a metallurgical
> viewpoint (and has not been done before, e.g. as described by Berendt
> -- whom I mentioned -- in his book)?
>
> Unfortunately I have not possibility to get the book in near future.

Do you read German? I might have a spare copy (I need to check it, no
promise at this point in time) which I could send you. Pls provide me
your postal address (off-list).

> But there are many suggestions I can make if needed. One ought to use
> carefully planned and prepared materials and test pieces. I used in
> some pieces austenitic stainless steel, as did also the Frenchmen. The
> result was very interesting: hardness testing revealed that there was
> cold-working martensite formed, typical quantity corresponding
> cold-working in room temperature. I also used thin and very hard
> pieces from saw blades. They behave like springs, becoming straight
> after bending even much with force. One of the boys could not bend the
> pieces at all but the other succeeded, giving valuable information:
> there was no springing effect. The piece could be seen bend a little
> between his hands, and it was bent just that much when he gave it to me.

Interesting!

> All measurements that were done with my pieces gave the same answer:
> the bending was as if bending by force in room temperature. The only
> thing that was paranormal was the method how the bending was
> accomplished. But there is some evidence of anomalous results here and
> there.

Agreed

> Hasted used very brittle material at least once and the pieces were
> bent successfully. But apparently he could not appreciate the result
> enough. The same with a spoon softened into plastic state by Geller.
> Hasted understood it was very convincing to have a spoon as soft as
> bubble-gum. But he did not realize what a golden piece he had in his
> hand, because the breaking end was _necked_. Steel does not neck in
> bending. For necking there is needed tensile testing. I doubt if
> anybody can draw apart the ends of a steel spoon by direct pulling.

Pulling to the extend of beyond the range of Hooke's law.
Yes, it would be interesting to encourage 'spoon benders' to try other
means of deformation such as pulling or pressing.

> >> Hasted was also too gullible in many situations in my opinion.
> >> The glass spheres with the paperclip scrunches are a sad history.
> >> Looking the pictures carefully it easy to see how the scrunches
> were made.
>
> > Yet when you take the pictures and his narration together it's a
> better story ...
>
> No, the scrunches cannot be saved by any means. Nobody saw how they
> were formed. They could not be made without a hole in the sphere.
> Somebody showed Hasted how they could be made, but he insisted the boy
> was working paranormally because he did it too rapidly.
>
> > However, how -- do you think -- were the deformations of the
> paperclips accomplished fraudulently?
>
> Very simple. First you straighten the paperclips leaving a hook in one
> end. Then you push in one paperclip or possibly two twined around each
> other through the hole. Then you push two paperclips in, grasp the
> former paperclips with the hooks, pull them tightly against the wall
> and twine the ends around each other. When you repeat the last step
> many times, then you have a scrunch accomplished.

I see your point. Yet I have objections:

1. the method you suggest should result in scratches on the inside
wall of the container as you accomplish the deformation by
pressing the paperclips against the wall. The hardness of the
metal is higher than the one of the container; it is easy to
obtain scratches on such surfaces. However, no such scratches can
bee detected (at least on the photos; of course, this one would
not be sufficient to dtermine:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/images/3851671112/sr=1-1/qid=1211418911/ref=dp_o\
therviews_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&img=1&qid=1211418911&sr=1-1).
I will supply you with a better one which I'll not attach to a
public posting due to copyright issues.

2. 'your' method will work as soon as the sphere is, say, half-way
filled, but how should it work with the very first paperclips
inserted there that simply fall to the bottom of the container,
resting there way out of reach of your hook ...


> I have contacted some American and Australian spoon-benders, but they
> do not answer.

Too bad!


Yours,
Peter

--
================================================================
Prof. Peter MULACZ
>> PSI WIEN <<
================================================================
WWW: http://parapsychologie.info/
http://parapsychologie.ac.at/
http://zugun.parapsychologie.info
http://stigmatisation.parapsychologie.info
http://franz-anton-mesmer.parapsychologie.info
http://lambert-binder.parapsychologie.info
E-mail: peter.mulacz@...
peter.mulacz@...
Phone: +43 1 4058335
SnailMail: Hernalser Hauptstrasse 38
A-1170 WIEN/VIENNA
AUSTRIA
================================================================