I was given a piece of O1 steel, so I fashioned a striking knife from it. I noticed that it was pretty easy to file, sand, grind, etc... so I suspected it was not hardened, which was confirmed by the donor. He asked if I was going to heat treat it. I have been using this knife for a few weeks, it's rather easy to refresh the edge and stays very sharp; sharp enough to score across white pine grain without tearing.
So obviously I'm not hacking away or hitting this knife with a mallet, so impact resistance isn't really important. Would I be improving anything on this tool if I were to go through the experience of heat treating it and annealing it? Seems to me that I'm doing OK as it is ...