The Process
Sourcing
We typically buy steel in form of bar stock directly from steel suppliers because it comes clean, annealed ("soft"), and we know exactly what type of steel it is, and therefore know how to go about heat treating it. But sometimes you can't pass up using old files, railroad spikes, or in this case, an enormous old saw blade to source your steel. Not only does it make for a better story about your knife (or machete in this case), but also a better picture for your website.
Quenching
Honetly, this picture is the only reason we are even doing a "progress" section of the site... because it's really cool. Either way, quenching, specifically heat treatment, is arguably the most important part of making your knife. Heat treatment takes your knife from a soft and tough piece of workable steel and transforms it into a hard, usable tool. Without proper heat treatment your knife wouldn't hold an edge for more than a use or two. It's easy to go down the rabbit hole when reading about what is actually, scientifically going on when you heat a knife up to 1500 degrees then cool it down to 400 in less than two seconds (carbon bonds are fascinating!), but this picture will have to suffice.
Shaping & Filing
Don't want to pay for a gym membership but want to get those arms toned up? Try hand filing and hand sanding a couple knives everyday! It's also a great way to brush off the small stuff throughout your day. Just say to yourself, "I filed and hand sanded steel for four hours today, this is nothing".
This is the all too common "what was I doing" pose.