Seems like it is time to get the hack saw. But how can shortening the spring make it stiffer? If the spring rate is say 275 lb/inch and is linear, would not this be the same with a spring of two yards as opposed to two inches? And I would believe it takes more - not less - total force to totally compress two yards, as you have more inches to compress. Or am I still being blonde?
The stiffness of a coil spring is, among other things like coil diameter, a function of the number of coils.
Imagine a straight length of spring steel with one end clamped in a bench vice. Push on the free end with a set force and it will deflect. Now shorten the length by half and apply the same force. Will it deflect by the same amount?
Take the original length of spring steel and wind it into a coil around a central former. Count the number of coils. Now take the half length and wind that around the same former so the coils are the same diameter. Count the number of coils.
You have now proved that for the same material, fewer coils = shorter length = higher force needed to deflect by a set amount.
