...just as a point of interest, forging steel does change the character of the
material to some extent....and for the better. As Mr Thompson has already
indicated, the resulting product in a dropout results in a functional item that
has a good mix of stiffness and malleability that you want in the part.

But it's not like a hammer or other forged tool that's made from a higher carbon
tool steel that can be manipulated in the annealing or hardening process for
both hardness and malleability in the same piece of metal...