Emiril is even stronger!
The forging mechanic currently is not really good and all you need to do it treat it with a lot of heat. So when the item is very hot and you forge it, then its forging score increases. The higher the forging score, the more bonus you get on both strength and speed. So technically, the strongest pickaxes can be forged by heating up your item and striking ONCE and then re-heating it (but it costs coal)
This game is amazing! I've just finished getting a Emiril pickaxe, and have been re-heating it to get the stats up, although it appears the stats have stopped going up, so I was wondering, is it just harder to bring the stats up when the forging score is higher, or is there a cap to how high the stats can get? thanks! :D