cz515 wrote:As others have said. I don't have much to ad specifically. It's like releasing in a way
If you are looking at saving money and only doing a handful of plates tbh get the ar500 targets.
For an experience if what's possible then use the forge. What you are trying to do is case hardening. Making the steel red hot and dunking it in oil is actually trying to put a layer of carbon on the surface. I have also seen blacksmiths pour ash on the red hot tool and then hammer to make it hammer forged.
You could try cromoly steel that's cheap option and hard. Also excavator buckets, esp the blade is a great idea
No, case hardening is different from quench hardening. Case hardening can apparently (never tried it myself) be done with mild steel by laying case-hardening weld all over the surface, but the cost of hardening rods is far more expensive than buying AR500 plate.
It's not so much an exercise in experimentation, as the targets I want are either not generally available in Oz, or bloody expensive.
I only got the idea because I happen to be ordering a fair bit of steel soon and will have offcuts left over.