Hi , Michael here. I hang out at the survival tribes and saw this tribe and joined. I have built a couple of Edged weapons (short swords) I used the steel from a Volkswagon torsion bar to f cut the blades from. This flat steel is very hard and had the shapes cut out with a water jet and then ground them using water cooling and abrasive wheel. I then used a disc sander to polish and finish thye blades. I got the steel from a scrap yard. I built the haldles with Cherry wood and have them epoxied and pegged to the steel which goes all the way to the butt of the handle. I used Brass as a hand guard because I didnt have anything else like a nice chunk of polished stainless. They are double edged short swords at 18 inches each. Very cool and very sharp. I did not add any heat treating and did not ruin the temper already in this steel. Your thoughts? Michael