What is the strongest steel ever made.
I'm a civil/structural engineer. ASTM A 416 is one of the strongest steels, with a nominal yield stress of 243,000 psi and design ultimate strength of 270,000 psi. This steel is commonly used in pre-stressing and post-tensioning of concrete structures. See the link below to one manufacturer of strands and bars made with this type of steel.
Wootz is laughable. A modern car spring has more tensile strength, not to mention better purity in manufacturing. Alpha B is right. My answer would be NS110. While wootz was the source of the original damascus steel. The manufacturing process was much like many crucible type steels of the past. And they were not used by japanese smiths. A traditional japanese sword was made from the ground up. Smelting the iron laden sand into Tamahagane. Which is a pumice like crude steel. It would be forged, and diamond powder would be applied and hammered into the skin. It would then be folded repeatedly to homogenize the blade. For what you are asking for now. I would say that 1/2 mild steel plate should work nicely.
*NS110 steel used in Oyashio seems to be the strongest steel . Its tensile strength is not less than 110kg/mm^2 which is equal to 1078 mpa or about 157000 psi *HY 100 (not less than 100000psi and not more than 120000 psi) *HLSE100 (approximately 142850 psi). and can have more tensile strength.
