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Peter, I would expect a blade as thin as a machete to go past 30 Deg easily. You really don't need to anneal your steel as that invites grain growth, normalization followed by a 1200F temper should soften it enough to do any drilling without grain growth. If you do anneal thermocycle before heat treat.
Take your soft back draw to 2/3rds of the blades height leaving 1/3 hardened and you should get better results in the strength test.
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