Got my shipment from Aldo's. Question how to fix slight warp. Aldo's is awesome btw.

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mjderstine

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Jul 23, 2013
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hey guys,

got my shipment from Aldo at NJsteelbaron. We had some mishaps with UPS, but Aldo came through, and really is a great guy. I can't say enough about him and the "part time" business he started selling high carbon steel.

its a 48"x5" piece. gonna make lots of knives

one quick question. the steel has a slight warp to it when looking down the end. Is it best to try to flatten it now, or cut the blanks out and fix them if necessary? I have a feeling cutting the blanks out first is the best measure, but you experienced builder out there... would love some advice.

 
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When the bend is very severe, I straighten it out a little bit with my hands. Then, or first if the bend wasn't too bad to begin with, I cut out my blades. I find it's easier to straighten a blade than it is an entire bar.

- Chris
 
When i was starting out making knives this was like a death sentence to me cause i could never get it perfectly flat and I didnt know about the many great resources out there.

So if you bought it from aldo's i am assuming its a pretty long piece (hard to tell from the photo). You can do preliminary straightening by hand and have it hanging off the side of the table and bending it over the edge. But honestly its not a huge deal, you still will have to do straightening after cutting the piece.

So once you have you piece cut out. Lay it on a flat area and identify where the bend or warp is. Usually it will be a simple warp where the bend resembles a "u" If this is so get bench vise and place three dowels in it. Two on the top jaw of the vice on opposite ends and the third in the center of the bottom jaw. I usually tape my dowels to my vice.


You can then tighten the vice to bend the warp in the opposite direction until straight. it is best to go slow and repeat over a large area, rather than tightening in one spot repeatedly.

The above technique was from a book murray carter wrote. (just to give credit where credit is due.)

If it is a cork screw style of warp..... that is a bit more difficult. I will leave it to the more experienced
 
thanks for that advice man. i added the size to the first post.

and i will be using that technique for straightening the blank once its cut.
 
I get my steel from Aldo as well. It is a minor point but bars (usually 4' lengths from Aldo) don't typically leave his shop that way. Much of it happens in shipping. Think of the old American Tourister luggage commercial with the gorillas throwing luggage around. Anyway you get it bent. First I try to correct the bend in the whole bar by hand or by stepping on it over something that props up one end of the bar. I generally get 1/4" thick stock with some exceptions. This just gets most of the bend out. Then I cut to length for a blade blank. This goes to my cheap HF 20 ton arbor press. Here I carefully and repeatedly correct the rest of the bend and check for flatness on a granite surface plate. Works great.
 
cool. this actually came strapped to a plank from a pallet, so there was no way it was going to bend in shipping.

i need a garage for my tools.
 
When aldo sends me stuff I get it in a super heavy duty cardboard tube that has stapled end caps..... It was hard to open with just hands and a knife. I finally smartened up and just hack sawed it off. Great packaging!!!
Mine also came with a bend but that is fine. I think its kind of expected just like how you buy wood and its not flat or any other type of raw unfinished material.

Glad to be of help. =)
 
Almost every piece of steel I have bought from Aldo has had a bend in it. I just straighten with the method mentioned above using a vice and it works for me. Nothing against him at all, I assume it is bent in shipping. I'll continue to buy all of my steel from him.
 
I take a large diameter socket thats wider than the steel and roll the steel bar over the socket with moderate to light pressure while checking frequently for flatness. Essentially using the socket as a rolling fulcrum or half of an English wheel. Being patient and taking your time is the key. Also, be sure the cut-off end sections are de burred, as even a small lip can throw off your read on how flat it is.

I find this method reduces and eliminates kinks in the steel by distributing the bend points across the face of the entire bar.
 
I have had some pretty bad twists and kinks from most everywhere I bought from. I try to work around them,cutting out my designs with the bends in mind and where they will be at on each blade as to make it easier to get at in the vise,thats in the middle somewhere for me.I've used dowels but sometimes they can bend too much and that sucks. I like using copper wire from romex and sort of upsidedown fish hook them over the top edge in the vise so they dont fall and I can slide them around, plus it wont let me over bend for minor tweaks.Theres one of those big tubes in the mail with my name on it, gonna try 80crv2, can't wait! I saw someone using nails and I tried them and they marked up my stuff, so I just make sure whatever I squeeze with or against is softer than my annealed steel ,micarta cut offs work too, I got a vise lined with them.That looks like its just bending under its own weight,when you cut something out that big bow shouldnt stay,what is it 5x48x.25 ,1095?
 
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If all that fails, do a stress relief at 1200 F for a couple of hours then straighten.
 
I've only bought one bar from njsb but it came just like yours. I was easily able to straighten the whole bar by hand, but, other than length, my bar was much smaller.

IMAG1957_zpsb10d3d45.jpg


I actually asked Aldo about this in another thread and I believe he said that they were working on a way to store the steel so that it doesn't bow.

Like you I was a little worried, but it ended up being no big deal at all. Honestly, I love this 1084 so much I'd be happy to buy bowed pieces forever. I still can't get over how nice, soft and inexpensive it is. Wish he was the "Central Valley, CA Steel Baron" though so I could save on shipping. :D
 
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ken1111 said:
When i was starting out making knives this was like a death sentence to me cause i could never get it perfectly flat and I didnt know about the many great resources out there.

So if you bought it from aldo's i am assuming its a pretty long piece (hard to tell from the photo). You can do preliminary straightening by hand and have it hanging off the side of the table and bending it over the edge. But honestly its not a huge deal, you still will have to do straightening after cutting the piece.

So once you have you piece cut out. Lay it on a flat area and identify where the bend or warp is. Usually it will be a simple warp where the bend resembles a "u" If this is so get bench vise and place three dowels in it. Two on the top jaw of the vice on opposite ends and the third in the center of the bottom jaw. I usually tape my dowels to my vice.


You can then tighten the vice to bend the warp in the opposite direction until straight. it is best to go slow and repeat over a large area, rather than tightening in one spot repeatedly.

The above technique was from a book murray carter wrote. (just to give credit where credit is due.)

If it is a cork screw style of warp..... that is a bit more difficult. I will leave it to the more experienced
Click to expand...

It may have been you that gave me the same advice not long ago. I made something similar. I used this on a large batch of 50 knives that I had water jetted out of 52100. I just used a piece of scrap angle iron and jb welded a couple of pieces of drill rod to the angle iron so I didn't have to try and balance all those moving parts at the same time. This way I can tighten the vise up looking straight down the bend and correct it as needed.



 
They do a little if I really put a lot of pressure on them. I usually don't put enough for it to matter. I do this before I surface grind them so it's no big deal for me. If you don't surface grind then you might want to use something bigger and softer so it doesn't mar your finish.
 
Like a wooden dowel.

So since I'm the op I figured I'd chime back in and say it is still noticeably warped after I cut the blanks. But a couple minutes of bending and checking on my granite surface I was able to straighten them.
 
jimmyseymour said:
It may have been you that gave me the same advice not long ago. I made something similar. I used this on a large batch of 50 knives that I had water jetted out of 52100. I just used a piece of scrap angle iron and jb welded a couple of pieces of drill rod to the angle iron so I didn't have to try and balance all those moving parts at the same time. This way I can tighten the vise up looking straight down the bend and correct it as needed.



Click to expand...

Excellent idea! I have been using iron pipe held on the vise with coat hanger wire and getting them to line up and the blade in can be a hassle. I have a couple pieces of angle iron and some 3/4" mild round. Think I give it a go but weld the round on because I do 95% of my straightening with a hot blade.
 
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