[sneakypete]

but just in case you wanted to harden little pointed cylinders of T-15 steel, T-15 has to be heated to extremely high heat 2300F (white heat) and then plunged into water or oil.

Kiddies,don't try this at home! It is VERY dangerous to plunge anything this hot into either oil or water. In one case you can get fire,and in the other you get steam. Either one will require a trip to a burn unit. If you have never had any experience with metal-hardening through quenching,LEAVE IT ALONE!

[from occupied ga]

In one case you can get fire

True, but you most likely wouldn't be doing this unless you had just a wee bit o machining experience anyway. It's not like you can do this on your kitchen stove :-)