Straightening AEB-L stock before starting a knife

L

Lee Hester

Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
65
Guys, I'm a new maker (about a year in, made a dozen or so knives using stock removal). I mostly use AEB-L in several different sizes, some of which came from AKS and some from the NJSB. It universally seems to have a substantial curve to it (around 1" over a 36" bar). I have been having trouble getting straight grind lines on partial flat grinds and have some difficulty getting scales to lay flat even after flattening them on my disc grinder. It took me a while to realize the root cause is probably that I'm not starting with flat stock. I believe this is due to the manufacturing process, but might also be that I was storing my steel leaned up against a wall in my garage. My question is, is there a process to straighten the steel before profiling and rough grinding it? I have straightened a few blades after heat treat by clamping them to some angle iron during the temper with some success. Can I (and should I) use a similar process before heat treat (maybe after profiling, before rough grinding)? If so, can anyone recommend a time/temperature recipe for me? Would tempering temperatures work? Is this something you guys who do stock removal on AEB-L regularly do? I don't have a surface grinder (might build an attachment soon), but it seems like with the warp that I'm working with, I would have to remove a significant amount of material to get a straight blank, so I'm hoping there's an easier answer. Thanks for your time!
 
Get a dead blow hammer, place concave of steel on garage floor.

Whack a few times with dead blow hammer and it will get flat.

If you do not have a dead blow hammer, put a 2x4 on top and hit with hammer
 
I buy 6"x24" sheets from AKS in various thickness depending on the knife. I simply have not experienced any bend. Now I'll put some in occasionally by drilling tang holes. This is seen when I grind the burrs off from drilling on a flat disc. Get a concavity on the downhill grinding side. Couple taps on the anvil and we're good to go.

Profiled these on Fri, drilled all the holes on Sat and will open up the tang holes with a step drill today and start grinding the burrs off. I'll do the whole blade at this time on the flat disc. Kinda a cowboy surface grinding. Pile on left is all AEB-L .070- .138 thickness.

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