The old school way of bending pipe is to use heat and sand. Buy some dry sand, not from the beach or your back yard. Weld a piece of steel over one end of the pipe. Fill the pipe with the dry sand completely and weld the other end. To bend the pipe, heat it red hot and start bending. You can freehand it using the heat to determine where to bend, or you can make wood blocks in the shape you want it to be or to make multiple copies. Words of caution, use dry sand. Sand with moisture can turn to steam and expand. When bending over wood forms they will catch on fire and smoke, so do this outside and have a hose ready to put out the fire. This technique can result in very smooth consistant bends, sometimes a lot better than can be achieved with a pipe bender. Can you do it without heat? If you are really strong!
