Method and apparatus for cutting metal pieces into narrower widths

An apparatus for cutting a relatively hot metal piece having a rectangular cross-section into three or more narrower widths by cutting through the thickness of said metal piece, which apparatus comprises:

• a knifing roll stand having a pair of rotatable knifing rolls, one placed above the other, each knifing roll having a plurality of annular wedges therearound and spaced from each other along the roll in the direction of the axis thereof, there being two of said wedges which are outer wedges, being closer to the respective ends of said roll, the flanks of said outer wedges being at an angle to a plane through the wedges and perpendicular to the axis of said knifing roll, the angle of the flank of the flanks of each of said outer wedges which is toward the roll end being an angle .theta..sub.1 which is greater than the angle .theta..sub.2 of the opposite flank of said outer wedges, the angle .alpha. of said outer wedges which is the sum of the angle .theta..sub.1 and the angle .theta..sub.2 being between 30 and 90 degrees, and the flank angle .theta..sub.1 being equal to 0.52.alpha. to 0.92.alpha., and the pointed end of each outer wedge being flattened and having a width .epsilon. equal to 0.01H to 0.04H, where H is the maximum thickness of the metal piece to be cut in said stand, and means at the entry and exit sides of the knifing roll stand for transferring a metal piece to be cut through the stand in the longitudinal direction of the piece, whereby sufficient metal in the outermost cut widths and adjacent the cuts between the outermost cut widths and the next adjacent inner cut widths being caused to flow in the direction of the length of the cut widths to substantially eliminate the curvature in the direction of the width of the cut widths when the cut widths are rolled to rectangular cross-sectional shapes.