I spoke at length with a guy at Nicholson years ago. I explained that I made knives from their files and asked what steel they were to get the 'straight dope' on heat-treating it.
He was adamant about not sharing their trade secrets (i.e., steel type), but he explained that if I were to heat treat it exactly as I would W-2, I would get the best possible results.
I read between the lines. I should add, that this was after hearing many times that Black Diamond files were a version of 1095 (very similar to W-2).
For all of these files and steels, I heat to critical, quench in 140 degree peanut oil, temper one hour at 400. Done.
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