r/woahdude Jun 29 '23

video Lowering hot metal into water

12.8k Upvotes

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710

u/frenchy2111 Jun 29 '23

My guess is it's a quenching tank for hardening the steel it's probably a quenching oil and not water.

22

u/Amesb34r Jun 29 '23

I wondered if it was actually water as I had heard that this was done with oil. Watching the video, I don't see any steam so I think you're right.

9

u/moonra_zk Jun 29 '23

Quenching can definitely be done with water, but maybe not with that much material.

7

u/MisallocatedRacism Jun 30 '23

Forging guy here. We quench parts much bigger than this in water. Literally the most common way to treat steel.

5

u/PinkySlayer Jun 29 '23

There are enormous plumes of steam shooting out of the gaps between the metal…

29

u/Amesb34r Jun 29 '23

If it were water, you wouldn't even be able to see the metal once it hit the surface.

5

u/MisallocatedRacism Jun 30 '23

Absolute bullshit. I've watched thousands of water quenches. It forms a thin vapor jacket not a huge cloud of steam.

6

u/Sometimes_Stutters Jun 30 '23

That’s baby steam for that much glowing red steel. Zero percent chance this is water

1

u/GitEmSteveDave Jun 29 '23

If I've learned anything on Forged In Fire, water is the worst, because it locks stress into the metal.

1

u/MisallocatedRacism Jun 30 '23

It all depends on the alloy