So Steve, then the stress relieving that they recommended wherever DH found that info was just a waste of power? I knew I should have thrown a steak in with it....

no, not at all... The "dull red" phase is the stress relief for hardening process.

not sure what process you are doing that needs stress relief. If you "stress relief" an already hardened spring, you are removing the spring effect. You would then have to re harden it.

What DH was doing was taking music wire, and twisting it in weird an crazy ways to replace springs. He wanted to make sure it retained its springiness rather than folding out and staying out on first use.