[TheForge] hardening steel

[Dave Kammer]

I was looking for some advice on how to harden a small piece of steel. I have an old shotgun with a broken hammer spring, Parts for this old gun are unavailable, so I was able to make a duplicate but it is too soft of steel. It needs to spring back and forth. The piece I made just bends when put under pressure. Can some sort of heat treatment or hardening make it become more spring-like?