I found this hank of metal next to a dumpster so I have no idea what 'kind' of steel it is.

But in reading around about tempering, it seems as if I've stumbled on a piece of "case hardened" steel. It's very difficult to file, meaning it's 'hard' steel and the filings are very fine as I remove them...I've about burned out my 8" Mill file in shaping it...lol.

The next part is the handle. The antler I have is a shed and it's pretty dry. I'm worried that it's "too" dry to sand and mill for the tang. Should/can I soak the antler to hydrate it? Or is there something else I should do?