I made this particular knife years ago from plans in the book "Wildwood Wisdom" by Ellsworth Jaeger, C.1945
Continue on to see those plans...
Step 1: Ellsworth's Plans
He says "He then tempers the blade, hard at first, and draws the temper by heating to a yellow color."
By "yellow color" he means a yellow oxide layer, not a yellow heat glow.
In 1945 everyone would have known exactly what he meant from watching blacksmiths at work. Today these words need further explanation. For more details read "The Making of Tools" or any other blacksmithing book from your local library.
Here's the full text of Ellsworth's book, starting on p. 168:
"Crooked Knife: A common wilderness knife found among the northern Indians and Eskimos is their famous "crooked knife", so called because of its shape. With this knnife the Woods Indian can make many things he needs, from noggins and ax handles to canoes and canoe paddles. It is really an aboriginal draw knife, for in using it, the indian draws it doward him.
The Indians trade for files at the Hudson's Bay posts and make these into knives (Plate 88). A flat file is used, cut down to 4 or 5 inches (A). The small end of the file, or "tang", is left on; for this fits into the wooden handle. The file itself is then ground down to a cutting edge (B). The Indian then heats it to a cherry red and bends the front of the blade as (C) shows. The tang is bent in the opposite direction (D).
He then tempers the blade, hard at first, and draws the temper by heating to a yellow color. The handle is made from a bent root or branch. The tang of the file is placed against the handle and its outline traced upon it. This part is cut out deeply (E) so that the file and a wooden plug (F) will rest flush with the handle. When the wooden handle has been smoothed and shaped to the Indian's satisfaction, he places the file in its notch (G), and the plug is hammered home. The handle is then bound with sinew which shrinks as it dries and binds the blade as with an iron band (H).
Eskimo Knives: The Eskimos make a knife of bone or ivory that roughly resembles a cutlass. This is used to cut the snow blocks in fashioning their snow houses or igloos. Plate 99 (bottom) shows its shape. Another knife used by the Eskimos is the strange crescent-shaped knife called the ullo. This is of steel and is used in numerous ways including the scraping of skins."