EDIT: Below was all written with me very frustrated. Im going to give a go again.... Time aint up yet. Too soon to throw in the towel. Gonna try to build an oil burning forge of significant size.
Sometimes a guy just needs to know when to admit defeat. I cant get it to harden. It must be my forge isnt big enough to heat the blade evenly. Parts will get nice and hard, others... not so much. With all that going on the stresses inside must be terrible and will require multiple normalizing sessions to be sure it wont fail. I dont have the time or the coal for it, nor money to get the coal.
So I am ashamed, and licked. I am sorry I let my trade partner down. So, unless you want the mess I have made, I will send you the knife that was made for me so at least your not left knifeless. It is a very nice knife with a razor edge. Very sorry.... It will be a while before I do any more trade events.
Here is what I have
I was going to do a leather washer handle on it, but I can send with it some handle shingles if you want this at all. I sure hate to send off a project though, considering everybody else is sending off a finished knife.