that is a good question. all the stock was in an annealed state when i left it to weather. i always do all my shaping, profiling and rough grinding before HT. afterwards, i lightly blasted all the surfaces to remove the scale, rust, etc. that left it nice and battered and ready for final grinding. just don't get it hot doing the final work and you are golden. i really had fun making this piece. i don't do chisel grinds too much anymore. the are kinda fun and different.
liontribe