WHAT IS HEAT STRAIGHTENING? The practice of heat straightening steel has been used for decades. Early ironworkers and welders discovered that when heat was applied to small areas... of a steel member, the member was distorted. Taking this observation further, they began to experiment on their own, trying to discover how to use this concept on their jobs. Over... the years, the practice was used to camber beams, when mechanical cambering was insufficient for the task. Since then, the process has been applied to steel beams and girders...