Sgian dubh Build-along

[Tartan Hiker]

Thanks for posting in, Mr. Gordon. Your work is truly exceptional, and I hope to own one of your truly fine pieces some day. My humble efforts are not even in the same ballpark as the many fine bladesmiths, such as Rab Gordon, who are out there.

And Rab is absolutely right about tempering...it's a really good idea to temper a blade's edge to ensure that the edge is as durable as possible. The hardening process I described makes the steel hard, but brittle. Tempering the edge of the blade by heating as Rab describes reduces or "draws down" the hardness, making them less brittle and prone to chipping or breaking. Considering the thickness of the blade profiles and the light duty I'll expect of them, I chose not to temper them. A thinner blade, or one that I was going to really stress, would definitely need to be tempered.
Of course, if one is only interested in the sgian dubh as an accessory and not as a functional tool, none of this heat treatment is actually necessary.