Thanks, Anonymous.

I don't know if you've noticed that this is not a technical manual. I don't know of anyone reading on this site who is in the least interested in forging a sward of Damascus steel. In the interests of brevity and with the fewest possible commonly used words, attempted to create an horrific image for the reader. Red hot does not to most sound nearly as pain-provoking as white hot. The truth lies in quite a different color, beginning with red of the setting sun on the desert, then cooling before the work of the anvil and hammer to . . . but here I go boring you with detail that is not relevant to the telling of a tale. So I'll just leave it there, and speak of taking licence with the finer details as being in the interest of spinning an effective yarn. If you wish to pass on this story and go on to something more technically accurate, the Literature folder is full of such work.