Hardening A2 tool steel (beginner)

Hello,

I am looking to harden a .125x2x8 piece of A2 tool steel. It has a beveled edge with a .030 flat on along the bottom of it. It is a straight edge for my girlfriend (she does drafting). I don't want it to lose the edge when she is constantly rubbing and cutting against it.

At work, we harden it at 1750 in foil and paper, let it cool furnace night, and then put it in a toaster oven at 450 for two hours on, an hour off, then two hours on again, and then let it cool down in the oven over night.

From what I have read, that seems pretty standard. My boss says I don't need to harden and temper it for what its purpose is. Says its plenty hard enough. But I don't think that sounds right. I already had to grind a ding out. Is he right? I also read that I shouldn't have beveled it before hand. Is that right as well? I'm still trying to figure out the ropes of heat treating. Should I also have plates handy to help prevent warping due to its thickness, length, and bevel? My boss says nah to that as well.

Thanks for the help.

P. S. I also have some bluing questions if you guys are up for that. Be much appreciated!

P. P. S. This is also my second attempt at this post. The first one didn't show up, sorry for the double posting

You do not need to harden a drafting straight edge.

It would be better to make it out of 304 stainless steel, so it does not rust.

I get that in hindsight, but I was hoping for a nice even grind and rich blue for it. He said I could have that, so I thought why not since so many knives are made from it. Probably not such a good correlation as I hoped. But, I don't really want to back track either. And I will probably make her one out of stainless as well, and this one could be for the memories of young love.

However, i still would like it hardened and tempered just to see this project through. Is our process sound enough for it?

A2 is air harden steel. After holding 1750°F for 20-30 minutes remove from furnace and air cool. Remove form foil, polish (or surface grind) to remove the oxide and to get clean, shiny metal surface. Temper at 510°F - 530°F for about 2 hours. This will give the metal a nice blue finish and about 56RC hardness.

It sounds like you just want to play around with hardening and tempering. I don't blame you one bit. I have been playing with a forge for over forty years and I still get a kick out of hardening and tempering steel. To me the difference in shop hardening and tempering is what the piece of steel is going to be used for. There is no way in hell I'm going to be tempering a cylinder for a handgun or a critical suspension component. This is much better left to the professionals. However for what you are doing I say go for it. Might be fun.