How to bend Bracing Stays instructions wanted

Just bend it a little at a time on a table or workbench edge. You want it to match the curve of your spine.

It works best if you can have some help in the process, as its a bit hard to see your own back. Th aluminum is generally soft enough that you can bend it over your knee a good deal of the time. Works best if you bend a little, then hold it against your back to test fit, then repeat until it fits the curve of your back. might take a number of tweaks.

You may also talk to your local backpacking store. My local REI offered to heat-form the hipbelt on an older Osprey pack even though the pack wasn't purchased through them. Yours may be willing to help form the stay in your pack for you.

as an REI Camp/climb employee, most REI's would probably not help bend those stays. we try to be as helpful as possible, but that one is outside the scope of the vast majority of REI employees.

replace a buckle yes
fix a waterfilter yes
replace shock cord in tent poles yes
bend aluminum on a product that most REI employees havent even heard of. probably not

You don't need technical help unless you want it. It is not rocket science. You just need patience. The general rule is you increase/decrease the bend at particular horizontal points by placing one half of the frame on a flat surface such as a table and pushing down to bend a little at that point. If you have separate stays this is easy except you want to be careful to do things symmetrically. If they are part of a single piece, such as the ubiquitous u-stay. you are going to have to have a bit more coordination, but basically the same thing. As in all things a friend can help a lot for holing things in place. If you can find a vice that may be golden.

So … you bend a little an one point, check the result. Move to another point. Rinse and repeat. Start by matching the stays to your lumbar curve, but as people have pointed out, the "ideal" shape for you is ultimately going to depend on how it fits when worn fully loaded.

One you have reached the point where there is an approximate fit to your lumbar region, and many packs will already come this way, you move on to the stage where you put the pack on loaded and decide where on you back you are not happy and want to make a change. Pretty much only you can decide this as it is not just an issue of fit, but your personal preferences, style, mojo, elan, etc. Figure this out carefully and mark/measure where you would like a little more/less bend. Unload bend reload. check. Rinse and repeat.

At some point you can probably do the final adjustment with the stays actually in the pack (unloaded of course). Check on your pack to make sure you are confident the support material is going to hold up. If it is made of super light material then you may want to stick with the external adjustment.

Hope this helps. It can make a huge difference in the fit of a pack – and sometime even a little bit at the right spots goes a long way. Remember you can always undo anything you do if you don't like it provide you don't make a "kink" in the stay – virtually impossible. But if it makes you feel better remember it is only aluminum and you can probably cheaply buy a replacement for your pack.

Obligatory legal disclaimer: don't try this on carbon stays. They flex but cannot be shaped. They can however be broken.

One last note, in case it is not obvious. The #1 goal is to get the bend in the stay correct around your lower back. This is not just because that is where most people backs bend the most, but because the #1 goal is to get the hip belt working with the stays in such a way as to insure it fully supports the weight while comfortably moving everything that can poke into your back out of the way.

Generally speaking you want the stays to match the curve of your back, especially the lumbar region. Most stays are easy to bend by hand, some might need a padded table edge or chair arm. Fit slowly, while wearing a single tight shirt, with a full length mirror nearby to check.

Your pack will need to be taken into consideration. The thickness of the lumbar pad will dictate how close the stay curve should match your back. A thin pad, like you'll find on most UL packs, will dictate a close fit. A thicker pad might dictate a bit less curve, least you get some lumbar spot pressure.

Shaping the upper portion of the stays will depend on the pack. One without load lifters (e.g. Gossamer or HMG) works best with the stay contoured very closely to your back the whole way. A pack with load lifters (ULA Catalyst)will probably work best with stays rising close to straight from the bottom of the shoulder blades. This gives the lifters something to lift against, and keeps the pack from hitting the back of your head.

It should go without saying that any pack carry complaints without a perfect stay fit have little merit.

Not exactly your situation, but similar and should be helpful. Fast forward to the 3:30 mark.

If somebody already mentioned this sorry but the first step is to find where the bottom of the stay starts on your body with the pack on which starts with finding where the hipbelt rides best on you then find out where the bottom of the stay starts. Now before going through this note that I don't feel that most padded back packs with stays need to be bent and that with time stays do bend themselves to your shape and also the shape of the load you pack in and pull tight w/ compression straps

Thanks heaps everyone, info is great!!