Steel is a delicate, crystalline substance.

All substances glow the same color at the same temperature.

Time and Temperature are the keys to steel structure.

More time, less temperature/force is best.

•Quench at the slowest rate possible.
•The lowest temperature for a given situation is best.
•Time and temperature are inversely related.
•Temperature is usually more significant than time.
•More, smaller strikes is best.

The faster a steel is quenched, the harder it will be after quenching.

All hardness in steel comes from carbon.

The more carbon present in the steel, the harder it will be after quenching.

Push steel ahead of the hammer.

Harder means brittle, softer means tougher.

Sharpness depends solely on edge geometry.

Wear resistance depends on steel composition and heat treatment.

Hardness and wear resistance are not directly related.

Impact resistance depends on steel composition and heat treatment.

Wear and impact resistance are usually inversely related.

Hardness and hardenability are not related.

Smaller grain size is good.

Hard and strong are directly related, if not manifestations of the same thing.

Proper hardness is right at the point where a burr no longer forms when sharpening.

At it's core, forging is just clever and creative squeezing.

Stray bits of info:

0.285 pounds per cubic inch is a good general number for steel density. There's some variation according to alloy, but not much.

Density of concrete is about 110 #/cu.ft. Again, depending.

UnNotched and Charpy V Notched impact data can be transposed with the following equations:

UnNotch = (VNotch - 2.5) 23.33
VN = 0.04286 (UN - 58.325)
UN = (VN - 2.5) 23.33

0.737 Joule = ft-lb

The maximum theoretical strength for steel is about 3 million PSI--about one magnitude greater than has ever been achieved.

Heavily cold-worked straight carbon steel is one of the strongest materials on the planet.

6.89 KSI = MPA

Here's a nice page with various Java Calculators --in particular, a temperature converter.