Posted by HWooldridge on Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 2:16PM :
In Reply to: Axle scoring to direct breakage? posted by Scott W on Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 12:20PM :
I don't know if the oldtimer told you the exact process of how they were scored but if you chucked one in a big lathe and used a small, radiused tool, you could machine a groove that might still allow 80-90% of normal load before failure. A punch or chisel mark would be the worst stress riser and might make it fail well under max load. The thing to avoid on any piece of steel is a notch that can propagate a break.