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One alternative to building a forge or getting a high temperature electric oven to heat treat in is to send your blades out for heat treating. Finding a heat treater who will harden and temper carbon steel will require some searching but they do exist. Finding an outfit that will heat treat air quenching steel is easy and really not all that expensive per blade if you send several at a time
If you do elect to go the route of using a gas forge to heat treat your own blades you will need to restrict yourself to the simpler carbon steels like 5160, 1080, 1084, 1075, or 80CrV2 that are more forgiving when it comes to heat treating. It's not that you cannot produce a good blade with a higher alloy or higher carbon steel but it's harder to get the best out of the steels or produce consistent results.
Another thing that you might consider, if you don't want to do your own heat treating is to buy ready made blades and finish them. This is actually the most traditional way of making a finished knife. Whatever you decide there are options out there for you to try.
Doug
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If you're not making mistakes then you're not trying hard enough
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