I'm not sure that I understand your question. Regardless one needs to austenize and quench the steel to achieve full hardness and then tempered to reduce the hardness and brittleness, though one reference that I have states that repousse' tools do not have to be hardened. It's optional. It's also going to depend on the metal that you are working with. If working with aluminum, copper, brass or bronze you might well get away without hardening and tempering your tools. For iron and soft steel I would think that you would want your tools to be harder. Maybe someone who has actually done these techniques might chime in or maybe you could find a board that deals with these arts and ask there.
Doug
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