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Unpopular opinion: quenching a 5160 spring steel knife in water is a bad idea, even for a small blade.
I was at my home forge in Spokane last fall, finishing a 6-inch skinner from a 5160 truck leaf spring. I got impatient and dunked it straight into a bucket of water instead of my usual oil. It cracked with a sound like a gunshot, splitting right down the middle of the tang. I had to grind the whole thing back and start the heat treat over from scratch. Has anyone else had a quench go wrong because they rushed it?
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