Hi this is DaQo'tah
I wish I had tons of good advice for you, but Im about as new to this sport as you are.
although I did make a few knives and large weapons out of "Mild Steel" that I got from a welding shop in town, my first real knife was out of a leaf spring steel ( they call it 5160)
now this is a type of steel that us new guys can play with, its a good starter steel, and yet , lots of very good knife makers also work with this steel too.
I will post a website so you can see my rough forge set up, , My forge is just a printer stand, a metal drawer,,,and a blow dryer.
I heat the steel untill its red hot, that bang it around a bit to show it whos the boss, then I let it sit in the forge to cool down all day,,,I do this about 3 or more times,,,,this gets the steel soft to use the grinder on, (so they tell me)
later I just do a thing where I use a torch to heat the finished blade red hot, then quench just this hot blade in oil.
I do that 3 times, then place in a kitchen oven at around 400 for 2 hours, let cool,,,,then do the same 2 more times,
you will end up with a strong blade that dont want to bend, it will take a good edge,,,,but the blade is also soft enough to bend without snapping also very important.
http://eastof29.tripod.com/