Joel, I didn't drill the holes first as I did a differential heat treat, and only the edge is hard.
Doug, I did get a little ahead of myself since this is the first forge time I've had in about a year, but I really should make myself slow down lol.
Alan, I agree with you about bearing races. I get these races from work, and the knives I've made from them are very strong. I've hammered them through stainless tig wire as well as 3/8" brass rod with no edge deformation or rolling. I'm not positive the steel is 52100, but it sure seems like it. It doesn't like moving quite so easily as some of the lower alloy steels I've fooled around with.