Red & Green Candy Canes

[ericg2000]

i picked up 12 red and 12 green candy canes from wally world after christmas clearnace back in 2014.  i wanted to make spinners in 2015 but ended up not doing it.  i had them stored in my attic and i notice when i was pulling down stuff last november they have all misshaped now.  i had them bundled and in a bucket standing up.  i guess the weight of them leaning over and the attic heat cause the problem.  i recently put them in small groups and tried to tape them in their natural curved shape to see if they'll re shape themselves.  has anyone experienced this before? are these candy canes a lost cause?  i got them for maybe $1 or so a piece so it's not a real lose, but if i can save them i'd like to.  my 2016 plans have me getting a controller just for the spinners in the spring sale.  thanks

[SparkDr]

If you have at least one that has retained it's shape to use as a template, you can warm the others one or two at a time in the oven (150^ or less) to make them pliable and zip tie them to the know good one upon removal.  Shouldn't take too long and you'll be back in business.

[ericg2000]

i'll give it a try

[Little_b]

I've done it 2 ways.  I've built the template and used my Heat Gun to shape it back.  Another way is to fill it with Hot Sand as this also makes it pliable.  I think it was just more fun than anything to see my wife's face when she opened the oven to find my pan of sand in there warming up.

[Old Sarge]

I had the same problem with some I had in storage shed a couple years ago.. Over the summer... here in CA> they got so hot most of then changed shape... 

 

I do know what you mean... I was told by another forum member... it was just me because he stors his the same way and has never had a problem... Maybe he doesnt live where it hit 115 for a few weeks in the summer... and it gets to 125 to 150 in his storage area...

 

What id did was got a piece of 5/8 plywood.. Put some screws in it to make templates... got out my bent warped canes, heated them in my hot tub to soften them up and put them into my templates. You can probably use a heat gun but dont stay in one place to long... bent real slow when putting into your template or you will collapse it. I collapsed like 3 out of 10. If you want to pry the end off and remove the lights you can heat sand in a microwave or on stove top... pour it into it and bend oit that way... let the sand cool then dump it out..  dont get it to hot though or you will melt it.

 

 

I also slowly put pressure on a couple and poured boiling water into it to soften it up so I could easly bend it... That works well for making PVC archs to if you use the THIN WALL pvc with (light)sleeves to slide over it.