I am mid process on setting up a big wheel grinder( 36 inch ) and also have 48 and 60 inch water cooled platens being made for my grinder. I will be in the near future making single bevel knives. I have several yanagi's and a few deba's profiled right now, and am waiting for my big wheel to be able to finish them. As far as the bending, they absolutely need to be HT'd BEFORE grinding and also need to be kept cool while grinding. I will probably add a temper cycle after they are ground to help relieve stresses in the blade after grinding. I am also surprised that really no NA maker makes single bevel stuff. It does take some specialized tool to do it, and those tools if bought are quite pricey. If you look into a water wheel at roughly 50-54 inches, they can quickly top $5k for the wheel alone....