If I remember right the temp before final quench was about 2600F.
And you only had a window of just under 200 degrees to get it right, or junk it.
All by memory of the color of the metal. No thermometers.
Talk about nerves of steel!
No power hammers. Just a 2lb mallet. Anything heavier would destroy your arm.
Amazes me how those artists could dig sludge out of a bog with a hefty iron content in the water, burn the mud and whatnot out of it, end up with a nugget of raw iron not much bigger than a baseball and work it into such an Incredible piece of functional art.
And for most of them in small enclaves, that was in between making door hinges, locks, ship rivets, stirrups, cook pots, chains and all kinds of other stuff.
Used to read a bit (lurking) at a blacksmith's site.
And the guys running it said the noobs near Always wanted to know how to make a sword.
"Sure kid. Put in 30 years on horseshoes and such, then come on back and we'll talk."
