Overheard a guy at the scrap yard say he never quenches railroad spikes

He was picking through a pile and told his buddy he just lets them cool in the air. I tried it on a spike I was turning into a bottle opener last week. The steel stayed a lot easier to work with for the scroll work, and it still hardened up fine for the hook part after a second heat. Anyone else skip the water or oil for certain projects?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia9053mo ago

Ever try that on leaf spring steel for a knife?

the_julia27d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, leaf spring steel is the worst for that? I tried making a camp knife from an old Ford leaf spring once. It was exhausting. Kept cracking on me during the quench, no matter what I did. I ended up just using it as a throwing knife cause the edge would never hold right. That stuff fights you every step of the way.

kevin_bailey3mo ago

Totally makes sense for something like a bottle opener. Air cooling keeps it softer so you can file and shape it without fighting the metal. Did the same thing with a campfire poker from rebar, just let it cool on the gravel. It stayed soft enough to straighten with a hammer but the tip got plenty hard for poking logs after a quick reheat. Sometimes the full quench just makes more work for yourself.