Straightening O1 after Heat Treatment

Q

QuickEdge

Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
7
Hello BladeForums,

Totally grateful this forum exists :thumbup:! Just heat treated my first 9" Chef knife made from O1. It is wickedly warped. Can this blade be re-straightened without stressing it too much? The back of the blade is 3/32" at it's meatiest. Next time I've leave it thicker and normalize before the quench and temper. However is there a way to straighten this blade?

Best Regards,
Trevor Taylor
QuickEdge Metalwork
 
Depends how its warped.
If its not too bad you could try to temper straighten it by shimming it so its bending the opposite way and placing in the oven for a couple hours at your last tempering temp.
If its twisted or you have edge curling the time you'd spend trying to fix it, and probably not succeed, could be spent on a new blade.
 
Thank you leifjl for your reply. Based on your recommendation I'll assess and move forward from there. Out of curiosity what are you into in the world of knives? Nice profile picture too (dragon head bow from a Viking boat?). Thanks again,

Trevor
 
A picture is worth a thousand words.
If you can add one I would. There are people much more knowledgeable than me who might provide a better solution, if given a picture or two.

Into? As in making, or owning? Yep, Dragon head from a long boat.

Hope you get it straightened. Nothing sucks more then having to trash it and start over.

Leif
 
I am resurrecting this thread because I have a similar problem and would like to hear some more thoughts. I have a gentle bow in my 01 chopper. I tried to correct the bow with a counter-bend directly after a temper cycle. No luck. Unless I hear some clever ideas my next step will be to go back in the oven until it is soft enough to safely correct the bend then re-quench and temper.
 
You can also heat the spine at the apex of the warp, over flex, and pour water on it. Just don't allow the heat to go to the edge. Via, Bill Moran.
 
I was able to correct one but the second blade I over-corrected. I'm in the process of re-correcting the over-correct. :D I've tried this before without luck at the same temp (350*) as the initial temper. Water quenched. Seems the rise in temp (375*) has been beneficial.

Update: In the initial over-correct I introduced a bit of twist to the tapered tang. That has been fixed. Some additional work needs to be done to fix the slight overall bow along the length of the blade. I'm not giving up. I'll get it straight. Thanks to Rick and everyone else for their suggestions.

Updated update: She's straight! I wouldn't have saved it if it weren't for you guys. I would have put it in a 3 pin vise jig and probably snapped it. You guys rock.
 
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