I posted this on another topic, but that really wasn't the place for it...
Something that really needs to be said from time to time in the middle of all the discussions we end up having here is HAVE FUN!
Sure, using known steels and high dollar quench oils is the proper way to do things, but...
hundreds of thousands of really good knives have been made out of old files, truck leaf springs, saw blades and the like using simple equipment and regular old mineral or veggie oil or water. The steels fall under only a few types and unless you're going for a big thick bowie the simple oils will work.
These knives might not have the optimal edge geometry, they might not have the greatest of grain structure or might be a little too hard (or soft), but they won't fail you under anything resembling normal field use.
99.9% of knifemakers are hobbyists. They don't aspire to a MS ranking in the ABS, they want a knife that they made for them and their buddies that won't fail them. That's COMPLETELY attainable with junkyard steels and a $5 bucket of corn oil.
I'm a scientist by trade and nature. I'm not fond of multiple unknowns in my experimental setups, but you can change one thing at a time and see the result until you find the limits of the materials available to you. If you're paying attention one "test" knife and you should be good to go to make serviceable knife.
So while a lot of us, myself included, often get caught up in technical discussions of the "correct" way of doing things, please remember there are "other" ways of getting a result that better than 95% of people won't notice the difference.