Thank you for the reply!
To answer your questions - The nail hardened well enough to hold an edge, used it to carve some of the same poplar wood used for the handle. It is still a tad bit softer than I would like.
I did what I believe was an actual heat treat (lol), I heated it near the orange and quenched it in oil. I used an entire board before finally finding something that worked for me as far as securing the tang, I drilled a whole 3/4 of the way through the handle and cut the tang to fit snug, before placing together I packed the whole with a bit of JB weld quiksteel (the stick). Once the blade was attached to the handle I crammed some more jb weld inside the hole on each side of the tang. Ended up with a very solid bond. I was able to chop at a block of wood with no movement in no more than 2 or 3 hours.
Thank you again for the compliment and the reply!
More coming soon..if the wife allows.
James