My son is building a knife for his brother for Christmas. After his steps, the blade still seems to brittle and the tip broke off.
At this point he is going to make it a tanto tip, but here are the steps he did....
Are these correct? If not, what can he do at this point?
1. Heated file in his propane forge to glowing hot and then hammered on forge to shape while hot.
2. Let slowly cool and heated up again hot several times to pound it into shape it fully. Slowly cooled.
3. Filed blade. drilled hole in handle.
4. Heated up to glowing then quenched in oil.
5. Heated in oven to 550 for 1.5 hours and slowly cooled.
Appreciate advice on what to do from here. He is not on the leatherwall but I know there are a lot of experts who have built great knives on here. Thanks, Chris