Bryan, another thought occurred to me: there is always the possibility that you somehow ended up with a bar of mislabeled steel even straight from Crucible. If you have a substantial amount left, the next blade would have the same problem in HT. Perhaps you could send a small tab to TKS for them to run and verify that, if done properly, the results meet expectations?? They would at least owe you that for a failed HT.
I understand your frustrations. I went to doing all my own HT many years ago. Now, if it comes out bad, I never have to wonder who the idiot is!!
