Southpaw92

When I inspected the break I did notice the grain in the core of the knife reflected light differently than the grain around the edge of the break. It didn't flex a full inch. I would post pictures but I already fixed the break. I'm going to try the oven tempering method. Is 450 F. the right temp?
Thanks for the input.

I recently forged a hunting knife from a section of rail car spring. After forging the blank I annealed it and then proceeded to refine the profile and cut in the bevel with a file and sandpaper. When this was done I heated the blade and quenched it in room temp. used veggie oil. After cleaning the knife off I put a steel plate over my forge and tempered the blade on it. I drew the temper to a peacock blue. At one point the color started to run really fast on the edge and point so I place just the first 1/4" of the point and edge into my water quench to slow the colors. When the tempering was complete I placed the knife in a container of wood ash. When it had cooled I placed the knife in the vise and tried flexing the blade. It ended up snapping about 1/2" back from the point.

I'm wondering if this is a result of me placing the point and edge of the blade in my quench during the tempering process, or if I'm running the colors to fast on the knife, (The knife blade was 4" long, an 1 1/4" wide, and 3/16" thick and it took about 12 minutes to temper) or a combo of the two. Should I try tempering my blades of said steel in the oven instead?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard that leaf springs, even after being forged and heat treated, retain enough memory to try and return to their original shape. Have you had any such problems?