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Finally got a clean twist on that old railroad spike after three tries
I was messing around with a piece of scrap rail spike in my backyard forge, trying to get a tight, even twist for a bottle opener. On the third heat, I quenched it in my old oil bucket way too fast and it came out with this wild, almost feathery pattern along the twist I've never seen before. Has anyone else had a quench change the look of a twist like that, or did I just get lucky?
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susan1301mo agoMost Upvoted
Actually, that feathery look is a decarb pattern from the quench oil burning off. I've gotten it a few times when the metal was way too hot going into old, dirty oil. It's just on the surface, so it won't hurt anything.
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patriciah511mo ago
That sounds more like a quench crack starting than a pattern, honestly. Did you check for any thin lines in the metal?
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