Thanks folks.. I did figure out my problem. It was all about the quench oil. I was trying to quench 1095 with canola and it just wasn't working. The hardening on one side was a red-herring and it was just the way the file happened to be skating made it seem like it was hard. After moving to Parks #50, it all went well and I have hard blades.
@eutrophicated1 For forge temp gauges, I did fine this one on amazon and it works quite well. I use it to test the temp when I'm going through normalizing cycles and then for the final heat treat.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079HHSHLQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1