Straightening annealed steel

[Daniel Koster]

I have some A2 steel already cut into blanks - 1/4" thick - that need to be straightened. (the steel came slightly warped)

I have access to a small arbor press that can do it...but my experience is that you can't get it truly flat everytime...sometimes you can end up with a double bend...frustrating to get out.



What about putting them in the heat-treat oven at a low temp, then bringing them out and cooling between 2 aluminum quench plates?

Would that work?

Would it significantly decarb the A2? (I don't plan on foil-wrapping it)

What temp is the minimum I could go to get it straightened?


These are out-of-flat enough that I need to do something...no way I could grind them as-is.

Any help/suggestions would be great!

Dan

 

[A C Richards]

Daniel,
have you seen the vise straightening jigs?? Basically brass rods, 2 on one jaw of the vise and one on the other. Put the high side of the warp on the single rod and tighten the vise. Keep at it until straight enough to grind. The oven method is a bit risky in that in order to get it to move significantly the steel would have to be above critical. Decarb not a concern but hardening is. Try it cold with the vise fixture. May take a little while but it is worth the effort.

 

[AcridSaint]

Hi Daniel - would you be opposed to grinding them after HT? If not, then why not just HT them and quench between plates. They'll straighten out then you can grind them once and be done with it.

 

[Leu Custom]

i think if you do not take the steel over 1000' degrees, decarburization should not take place. But yeah, heat treating it in an oven, cuttinig open the packet and with a good vise and some sort of padding to prevent the steel from getting scratched up, should make the steel easy to straighten. Since they are 1/4" thick, not sure if plates would do it unless they were rather thick and there was a bit of pressure holding them till they cooled below 400 degrees.

oops, didn't read the rest of the post before replying. yeah use the vise trick and straigthen them with some rods or if you can do it by eye.

 

[balibalistic]

I';d just use the arbor press to get them best as you can,then plate quench!works great for me.