twisted Damascus Blank

wmhammond

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, need some help. I purchased a piece of Damascus steel from a trusted steelmaker in Pakistan (or, was it India – all those guys are above reproach, aren’t they?:les:) The piece is about 2” X 8¼” X ¼” and I paid about $45 for it. Anyway, I can’t imagine how it could have happened but, of all things, it is twisted. When you lay it flat on the table it rests on the two diagonally opposite corners. When you press down on one of the raised corners so three corners are touching the surface the high corner is 3/32” up off the surface. I'm pretty sure it is too far out for me to just correcting it by grinding so is there some way I can straighten it. I thought maybe that when I heat it up to anneal it I could put it in the vice and twist it back with a pipe wrench. Any ideas? Thanks,

Wallace
 
I hate fixing warps. There are several ways. Easiest is if you have a heat treat oven, heat it up to 1600 or so while it's laying on a flat ceramic plate, let it cool in there when the heat is turned off. It'll come out flat. If you don't have a kiln, use the kitchen oven and two c-clamps. Clamp a bar of steel or something similar to one end of the billet, place a nail, or something to use as a fulcrum between the billet and scrap steel, and clamp the other end. By positioning the nail just right, you overbend in the opposite direction of the original bend. Place all of that into oven at 400F for a couple hours. That is a bit tricky to get just right. There are other ways. Use a hammer and a flat surface, and just beat it out, hammering up and down, flipping the billet over and over. Or you can make some jigs, two simple pieces of wood that have slits cut in them. One piece of wood in one hand, the other piece in the other, with the billet being held by the two pieces of wood in the slits you cut. Using your arms, you twist that billet till it's straight.

It's no fun...I HATE straightening stock, or blades. Like I said, there are several methods, just go for it!
 
WOW! What great suggestions. Since I don't have a heat treat oven I'm going to try the cooking oven method. I'll let you know how it works. Thank you,

Wallace
 
Gave it a try - did it twice, actually. Result was OK, but not perfect. I think it is within the tolerances that I can work with. Thanks again,

Wallace
 
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