PURPOSE: To prevent a defect such as a cruck and a burr from being generated on a cutting edge formed on a billet by forming an elastic body layer on the surface of a bending roll when the stock is bent by the movement of the bending roll and a belt into a prescribed shape.

CONSTITUTION: The side of a needle point 1c of the stock A is supplied between the bending roll 2 and the belt 4, when the bending roll 2, a holding roller 3 and the belt 4 are driven, the billet A is transferred by the bending roll 2 and the belt 4. In the course of this transfer, a bending force is given by the belt 4 to the stock A and the stock is bent into the shape along the surface of the bending roller 2. The elastic body layer 2b formed on the bending roller 2 is deformed elastically in accordance with the bending force given to the stock A and the cutting edge formed on the stock A is protected by the elastic body 2b, the belt 4 to prevent the defect such as the cruck and the burr from generation.