i did a little homework on forging. seems that down at the molecular level, there's hardly any advantage over stock removal, so forget it. i still like my new steel mallet.

also seems that this home depot steel is looked at by knife makers as we see 420j2. i still haven't tested edge retention, which i'll do after i thin the edge again a bit, but if this thing really is a serviceable knife it's either because the mild steel works well with something i did wrong (like too cold a quench and then not tempering) or some sort of carbon solubility miracle occurred in my fire pit. then there's the possibility that i actually got a good piece of steel from home depot.