I had this knife lying around that did nothing anymore after the blade chipped after testing it hard, but the concept still appeals to me, so I figured I´d do something about it. I annealed with an industrial "hairdryer". To do it, I wrapped the handle (the tang was not tempered at all in the first place, other than that you cannot do it) with a big piece of cloth, which I wet through. Since the blade had a selective temper, I just heated the part which was tempered until it was completely blued and let it cool, while constantly renewing the moisture in the cloth. I repeated the process three times, constantly checking the temper with file and mild steel rods along the entire edge. I have now tested it, and it has an even temper of about 59 HRC. The handle still is yew with mosaic pins and double lanyard holes;-) which I buffed up a bit. Then I went on and made a new sheath for it, for the old one was more of a suitcase than a sheath. By the way, the blade is a laminate three layer with tank bearing steel for a cutting layer and wrought iron-crucible steel with titaniumcarbide and silicium xilite (ferrum noricum) by Matthias Zwissler that I forged into a blade. The spine of the blade is 7 mm thick, but, having a high bevel convex grind and a wide blade, the knife still cuts well.
The sheath. I used a technique
Joel introduced to me, mixing iron oxide with linseed oil to achieve a light brown tan. The sheath is wet-formed and hot-waxed around the knife and I am quite pleased with the outcome. The carving shall represent a Celtic boar;-).
