Not Ready To Use It Yet

My knife remains in the middle finger of my suede glove.  I'm not ready to use it yet.  I built it for a gardening knife but it could slice a tomato or cheese as well.  But not yet.  I believe it needs some serious cleaning. Here is a shot of me, my hammer hitting the target, my anvil, and my knife blade. I'm smiling for the camera but well aware of the danger of pounding on orange hot metal.

Here is a shot of our coal forge.  This knife needs serious cleaning, I say.  First of all this knife was the spring on a car. Car springs are not clean.  It was held many times by dirty tongs and hammered with at least 5 dirty hammers.  I dropped it on the floor a couple times.  Sometimes coal stuck to the blade and coal is very dirty (you should see my pile of dirty clothes)!  It was submerged in vegetable oil and heated until purple in a propane torch. I spent hours filing it and sanding it.  I spread soapy water on it to get a good sludge on it while sandpapering it smooth.  And one time I accidentally smeared it with creamed coffee instead of soapy water.  Oh, the dangers of keeping liquids in coffee mugs on the work table with the tools.  I rubbed it on a diamond sharpening stone with plain water.  Anyway, some cleaning is in order before I use this knife on something I put in my mouth.  Maybe I should make the first cut something special and memorable. Perhaps tomato instead of buckthorn.