As you probably already know, anyone who has to spend even a small amount of time working on metal roofing needs to have some reliable, high quality sheet metal bending tools. This is something that will come up many times over in the career of a roofer, so it is best that you find your favorite tools for bending sheet metal early on in your career. You want to have exactly what you need and feel comfortable during a job so you can do your best work. No one wants to fuss and fight with their sheet metal bending tools just to get them to do what they want. Your tools should be easy for you to pick up and get to work with consistently without any added labor. Whenever you need to bend metal for any particular project, you should be able to reach into your tool bag and pull out the exact tool the situation calls for. To prepare yourself for those instances, you may want to look at these different sheet metal bending tools and consider which ones will prove useful in your career.
Hand Seamers & Pliers
Hand seamers and pliers prove to be useful when the metal you are working on demands precision. This type of tool is not meant for working with larger bends on sheet metal, but rather smaller sections of it. You can use hand seamers if you need to work on edges of the metal for example and make careful bends for detailed work. Since this tool is more specialized, it is better that it is so small and easy to store. You do not have to treat taking it with you like a major decision, so it is easy to have on hand just in case the need arises.
Hammers
Hammers and mallets can do some good work forming metal, but they are definitely not where you should turn when you are looking for precision. Very dissimilar to the hand seamers, hammers are fit for larger, less exact bends. Get hammers with non-marring heads made out of materials like rubber or PVC, so you can use them without damaging or scarring the metal you are working on. They can get the job done quickly and leave the metal looking neat like it was never hit by a hammer at all.
Metal Roll Benders
Here is where we get to the more versatile type of metal benders. Metal roll benders are very practical to have around because they can fit such a wide range of tasks. They can work on larger or more moderate bends of sheet metal and do so without leaving many scratches. They can do a great amount of work for such a small tool and are ideal for those who work on metal roofing because they can handle metal easily and be brought on-site to a job about as easily as the pliers.
Any one of these sheet metal bending tools should be able to help you with whatever work you need to do bending metal. For precision work and fine adjustments to larger, less exact bends, you have tools that you can turn to and rely on as frequently as you need them. The fact that these options are all fairly small and handheld only makes them even better suited for adding to a tool bag since they will not take up a large amount of space or weigh you down on-site. Take your time thinking about what work you typically do with metal and what you predict you will be doing in the future, so you can identify the best handheld sheet metal bending tools for your kit. You can shop for versions of all of these options over at stortz.com and get your hands on some of the best tools out there.
