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Darrylbiscuit... Your picture shows de-carbonization...which is another way of saying you overheated your steel. You can probably re-normalize the blade, and save it from the scrap pile, but I think a better plan would be to do some destructive testing on it ...as is...to see the full effect of how the steel responded. If you decide to do this, place the blade into a vise and then bend it until it breaks. Once broken, look closely at the grain structure of the broken area. If done correctly, there should be very little if any individual grains visible, and the result should be about the same as a piece of broken porcelain china. The surface should be light gray and silky smooth. I suspect you will see individual grains which results from overheating...and this grain structure greatly reduces the strength of the blade.
A good way to see exactly what your steel should look like is to sacrifice an old file and break it. Old files were very accurately heat treated, and you will very quickly see the difference.
Another pitfall is un-even heating of the blade. This will result in different parts of the blade being heat treated differently.
Don't give up. It is possible to do your own heat treating, but as with anything, it is difficult to reach your final destination if you don't know how to get there.
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