: Make a crooked knife
: http://niftydeluxe.com/crookedknife/CrookedKnife.htm

Getting way off topic:
I just checked out the link. Coincidently enough my 90 year father just this past weekend gave me his Herter's crooked knife that is mentioned in the article.

I did find a MAJOR error in the instructions on how to make an Indian type crooked knife.

" (1) Anneal the file to soften the steel so that it can be worked. This is done by heating it to a cherry red color (about 1250 degrees F) and quenching it in water. A propane torch will generate enough heat."

This is absolutely wrong! It will harden (or reharden) the steel.
You anneal steel by heating and very slow cooling. Bury in sand or ashes or Vermiculite.

The other heat treating steps listed after shaping are correct but what the author calls" tempering" in step 3 should be called "hardening". What the author calls "heat treating" is step 4 obviously is "heat treating" but more specifically it is "tempering".

Anneal-Harden-Temper if you start with a file. Harden & Temper if you start with soft steel.