DrPatron,
1) Slowly heat up the piece until it is no longer attracted to a magnet (being careful to not allow the magnet to get hot). When this happens, you have reached the Curie point where the shape of the steel's crystal structure has changed. Slowly cool the piece to (about) 360°F (180°C) -- and then allow to cool to room temperature normally (i.e. in free air). You can do this with charcoal, coal, or coke if you do not have access to an industrial furnace or kiln -- just bury the part in ashes and allow the fuel to go out. So long as your rate of cooling is sufficiently slow, this will anneal the steel. Keep your fire (assuming that approach) on the reducing side of things.
2) Given that this piece came out of a post peeler, the only gotcha I can foresee is it being S7 (Shock Resisting, Air Hardening) tool steel. It would be a shame to waste it. The easiest way to check for this would be to have a piece of "excess" to test. Heat it up to the Curie point, hold it at that temperature for 20 minutes + 15 minutes for each inch of the thinnest dimension's thickness, and allow it to cool in moderate flow air (i.e. in front of a room fan). If it gets "hard to a file," then you have an air hardening tool steel. If not, it is likely to be an oil hardening variety. Water hardening steels tend to distort more than oil hardening -- which is why I think that it is probably an oil hardening variety. This statement is a SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) -- which is somewhat better than a pure WAG.
3) You probably want to end up in the Rc 40-45 range for a ram on a press-die. I have attached the McMaster-Carr data on tool steels for your enjoyment...