Newbie to knife making, and this steel was recommended to me. Bought it, profile ground, sent to heat treat. Let me remind you all, I have only made 2 knives out of files. I have ground the bevels, and sanded it to desired finish, but now I'm trying to drill holes in the handle for pins. Here's where I have learned my first lesson. I didn't drill them pre heat treat. So, after bearing down on the drill press wit ZERO success, can I use my torch to heat the areas and soften the steel? Also how do I do this and not mess up the heat treat on the blade. Thanks guys

Carbide drill bit.

Not sure who recommended that steel but it's the deep end of the pool for a new maker. You'll do better to start with 5160 or 1084 carbon steel. They're relatively easy to HT at home with minimal equipment and they make a fine blade.

Clamp the blade between a couple 1/2" plates of aluminum and use a torch on the spots you want your pins, bring the pin areas to red hot and let it cool then drill.

Basically you are annealing the spots for the pins.

Won't work on the 30V .

From Crucible's data sheet. Heat to 1650F, hold for 2 hours, slow cool no faster then 25F per hour to 1100F. Furnace cool or let cool in still air to room temperature. If you don't have the proper equipment to do this right, you stand the risk of making it harder.

well there you have it, I was just guessing I guess since I've never used it. I have bought damascus and had to heat the tang in order to drill pin holes.

Here is what I would do, for what its worth, wrap that one in para-cord or something and just start over with a new one. This time lay out the handle and drill any holes before you send it out for heat treatment...lol.

It's discussed here on Blade Forums http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/794728-How-to-drill-hardened-steel

You can get a carbide bit in the desired size from Jantz Supply. Should go through it without any issues but be carefull not to tweek it or you could snap your bit.

Believe it or not, but you can get cheap masonry bits from your local hardware store, use lots of pressure, cutting oil, and the lowest speed you can turn it, and you will punch a hole wherever you want it. I have had a couplke of times that the brand-new bit needed to be sharpened a bit, but my local machine shop did it for free.