[TheForge] Flattening fire place screen.

[xlch58 at swbell.net]

Andrew Vida wrote:
> Don,
>
> Though I have no experience with fireplace screen, there is an old 
> jeweler's trick that may work...  If you have a piece of, say, 
> sterling wire that is all lousy-twisted and you need a very straight 
> length from it, you put one end in a vise and grab the other with draw 
> tongs (or vise grips or some other clamping device) and you simply 
> pull until you feel the wire go past the yield point (the point where 
> elastic deformation becomes plastic).  The feeling is unmistakable and 
> you need go only a wee bit past that point to obtain a flawlessly 
> straight and perfect length of wire.
>
Another approach is to set up three one inch nominal pipes together 
connected with elbows tees and nipples such that they are about two and 
one half in apart and parallel.   Clamp this in place by whatever means 
necessary to you bench.     You place the sheet concave side down under 
the first pipe,  over the second and under the third, then pull it 
through.  The elbows or tees should leave enough space to get the sheet 
through between the bench top and the pipe even if it is clamped 
directly to the bench.   I have used this before for flattening smaller 
items.  It works by stretching the other side to match. 

Charles