Follow-up:

I cut a small chunk off the saw for a test piece. I was able to anneal the
steel with no problem. I could file it and cut it with my jewelers saw. So
now I hardened it - quenched in ice water (I figured if it was going to
shatter on the quench, I wanted it to happen with the test piece). Still
working great, the metal is brittle enough to snap with my fingers and the
file wont touch this stuff. Time to temper (and here is where the problem
starts), I polished one side with emory cloth and put it in the toaster oven
on a scrap of aluminum foil. After about 12 min, I see colors dancing on the
steel. When I pulled it out it was mostly blue (almost a neon purple) and
some dark straw colors scattered around. Well the temper must have not gone
very deep or been incomplete because I could still snap the steel with my
fingers.

It looks like I could use some guidance with the tempering - anybody have
any ideas?

Bruce

"Bruce C." wrote in message
news:ju48b.416482$YN5.280582@sccrnsc01...
The saw blade is too hard. Tin snips don't even leave a mark. I tried a
file
to test the hardness and it burnished the teeth on the file. This is why I
think the steel is too good to just pitch into the dumpster and I think it
would hold a nice knife edge. Another thing, I like the flexability of the
blade - this is the part that supprised me. I was expecting anything that
hard would be very brittle.

After thinking about it some more, I'm going to cut off a test chunk and
experiment with annealing and rehardening. If I'm successful with that, it
sure would make the knife making go quicker.

I don't especially need another paring knife but the steel is only about
.020" thick. Probably the best use for it would be a filet knife
considering
the flexability.

Bruce