Let me start by saying that I don't think this is off topic because it is related to knifemaking. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I was going to post it in Tomaz L's thread but I didn't want to hijack it.
Anyway, this one time in college I had been teaching a buddy of mine about knifemaking and he had made one of his own out of 01 and purple heart. He had finished it (not as well finished as it might have been but it was a beautiful form) and was trying to sharpen it. He came to me wondering why it wouldn't take an edge. I tried my hand at sharpening it and, sure enough, it wouldn't take. So I asked him, "What color did you temper this to?" to which he replied, "what?". I said, "When you tempered it, what color did it turn?" He paused for a second, rolling it around in his head, before letting out a string of explatives. After finishing it by hand and attaching the handle he had, in fact, completely forgotten to do any heat treating at all. Luckily, the handle hadn't been attached with epoxy and he didn't have to destroy it. I laughed at him.
- Chris
Anyway, this one time in college I had been teaching a buddy of mine about knifemaking and he had made one of his own out of 01 and purple heart. He had finished it (not as well finished as it might have been but it was a beautiful form) and was trying to sharpen it. He came to me wondering why it wouldn't take an edge. I tried my hand at sharpening it and, sure enough, it wouldn't take. So I asked him, "What color did you temper this to?" to which he replied, "what?". I said, "When you tempered it, what color did it turn?" He paused for a second, rolling it around in his head, before letting out a string of explatives. After finishing it by hand and attaching the handle he had, in fact, completely forgotten to do any heat treating at all. Luckily, the handle hadn't been attached with epoxy and he didn't have to destroy it. I laughed at him.
- Chris