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PSA: A farrier in Abilene told me to stop quenching my punches in oil, and he was right
I picked up a set of 3/8 inch handled punches at a swap meet in Abilene back in 2021 and a farrier there watched me dunk one in a bucket of motor oil while it was still black hot. He said to let them cool on the anvil rack instead, and I brushed it off for almost two years. Then my 1/2 inch punch started mushrooming at the struck end after maybe 200 holes and cracked right at the shank. I switched to air cooling and that same size punch has done close to 900 holes since with no issues. Has anyone else had punches fail early from oil quenching, or was mine just a bad stick of steel?
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michaeltorres5h ago
Wait, you were dunking punches in motor oil while they were still black hot? That's wild. No wonder that thing cracked on you. Air cooling from now on sounds like the move.
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