Hey all. I've been making some marking knives out of old plane blades for a minute and thought I'd try the same thing with some hardware store steel.

I made a few (on the left in the pic) and while they hold their edge OK, they feel a bit incomplete without hardening and annealing (EDIT:tempering). I bought a cheapy blow torch but it just doesn't get the steel hot enough.

I've thought about walking to some of the abandoned coal mines in my area and building a little fire - would this work, or should I try and build an enclosure for my torch?

Metal workers, friends of metal workers, Forged In Fire watchers help me out!

Diolch