I am working on my first project: a cutting knife for my mother. I am going for something that resembles this:


I have a piece of O1 that I annealed and cut to size.
I experimented a bit, and discovered that it is soft enough to shape with a 2,5lb hammer without heating it.
Granted, I have to file away as well, and the shaping goes slow, but I actually like being able to work on that piece for 15 minutes when I have time and then put it away again without having to fire up the bbq.

My main concern is: does this have a negative effect on the steel in some way?