I think I saw Jesse Spurway say to Holly Sullivan on 24 Oct 97  05:43:38:  
 > I thot about getting dowels and making one, but the one in the SAX catalog
 > was
 > cheap enough that I thot it would cost less than making my own and all the
 > work in getting a homemade one to work (will a 1/8th dowel break when 
 > bending heavier wire?). 
Hm.  Haven't seen the SAX catalog, so I can't say.  My wire bending jig is 
for rings only and isn't made from a dowel- it's made from a very slender 
steel rod that I got at Home Depot.   I bent the rod into the shape below:
            ___  
           |
___________|
is what it looks like.  I made a U shaped frame from leftover 2x4 pieces
 _            _
| |          | |
|o|          |o|   <- and there's two holes about here for it.
| |          | |
| |          | | 
|_|__________|_|
|______________|
and you turn it by hand.  Works really well and cost less than $10.
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