Crosscut saw knife advice

[Zaxxon]

Hi,

I want to make my first knife out of an old worn-down crosscut saw blade I have. If anyone can give me advice for going about this it would be much appreciated.

I want to make the knife with just hand tools. I've noticed that some people make saw blade knives using their existing temper. I like that simplicity for my first try but it would make it harder to use hand tools I believe. I tried cutting out a knife shape with a regular hand saw blade using a 1/2" cold chisel. It worked although the metal got a little bent here and there. Filing took a very long time. Anyone use a chisel to cut out a crosscut saw blade?

Should I try annealing? What would be a simple way to do it? Is it possible to do it in a wood stove? Tempering seems pretty complicated but maybe I need to start at some point if I'm going to be making knives for a hobby.

I'm just looking for a basic low tech game plan. I want to start with paring knives, looking towards making a chef knife later on.

-Zach