Heat treating first knife

[guttermonkey]

Hello everybody im new to this page and knife making. I just quenched my first blade and it hardened but got a warp. I was able to clamp it before it cooled all the way and got most of it out. my question is when tempering in oven can i clamp it again in the cooling process to get it a little straighter.Material is 1095 steel. thanks in advance

 

[Nixelplix]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you are going to have to re-heat, straighten it, and then re-harden

 

[Mo2]

Wrong section to ask. Please have your thread moved to here by a moderator.

https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/shop-talk-bladesmith-questions-and-answers.741/

 

[guttermonkey]

ok how do i ask them to move it

 

[Grayzer86]

You should not need to redo the heat treat. What I would do is clamp it to a piece of angle iron so that it’s straight, if the warp isn’t too severe. Once it’s clamped straight, so your first temper. After the first temper, if it hasn’t straightened, shim the blade to overbend a bit the other direction, and temper again. This would be better answered if moved to the knifemakers section. Although I’m not totally sure how to get a mod to move it.

 

[guttermonkey]

i got enough of the warp out by clamping it directly after heat treat its barely noticeable but i know its there lol

 

[JTknives]

Clamp it straight and then temper it while it’s clamped.

 

[JG Custom Metal Works]

Be careful that you don’t shim it too much as it could snap the blade. This happened to me a few weeks ago. On the bright side, I didn’t have to worry about straightening the bend. Because it broke off 3” from the tip, which was the part that bent. Lol

Another thing that REALLY helps prevent bending and warping is thermal cycling/normalizing the blade before heat treat. It relieves all the stress in the blade that has built up while working the blade. Stress builds up from being heated and cooled, hammered on, forged, grinding, and even the initial manufacturing process.

 

[joedhiggins]

I generally like to temper once first then shim against angle iron on the second temper. Repeat as required to get the whole warp out.

 

[Ian Fifelski]

I generally like to temper once first then shim against angle iron on the second temper. Repeat as required to get the whole warp out.

I concur. I have broken 3 just slightly warped blades because I clamped before first temper. Tempering for an hour and clamping at full heat is ideal.

 

[Drew Riley]

I'd definitely temper at least once before shimming/clamping. You may be able to then clamp straight for the next temper, but sometimes you may have to over correct just a little.