[Ian J]

Hi Jordan:
In the toolroom where I used to work years ago, we used Stelite drills to drill into hardened parts. They were a 3 sided drill and were used in a drill press at a high speed. While drilling, the drill would turn red hot but I would keep the presure on and it would drill through. The work has to be securly clamped to the m/c table as it also gets very hot and might catch and spin if not clamped.
I don't think that many shops would be too keen punching your hardened spring steel because of the damage it could do to their punches and dies. You could find that your parts may crack also. You could anneal the part as was described above in a earlier posting. To reharden, you usually heat to cherry red then quench in a special quenching oil, sometimes water can cool the part a bit to quickly and it may crack. After hardening is complete (test by trying to file an edge), all oil should be cleaned off, and the part pollished with fine emery paper to remove any oxides on one face so that you end up with a shiny silver finish, then the part is evenly heated untill the polished silver face of the part turns blue, then quickly quench in the oil until totally cooled. Hopefully the part will not crack and will retain it's flexibility. Getting the temperatures even and correct can be tricky.