Is Quenching broken right now or am I just unlucky?

[Tam Hawkins]

Hi everyone,

I have just gotten my first steel batch and wanted to temper it a bit. I thought 2 times more durability for my first set of steel tools would be fairly simple and without much risk, but I have lost more than half of them and was wondering if I am just unlucky or if the percentages shown are not truthfull.

I made 10 toolheads (actually 12 but 2 are not quenched at all and I am thinking about leaving them like that), 4 of them worked perfectly fine with quenching -> tempering -> quenching, one I accidently quenched twice without clay then tempered twice and then quenched once with clay (broke there).

One I lost at the first quench (can happen sample size is small enough that 5-10% failure chance should result in 0-1 lost).

And four I lost after quenching -> tempering -> quenching. 

In theory I should have lost 0-1 at the first stage and 0-1 at the second stage, so 0-2 maybe 3 if I am unlucky. But I am at 5 lost up to the second stage and 6 lost if you add the one I messed up the quenching. So a 50% lose rate to get the second quenching.

My sample size is small so it might just be that.

But It made me wonder if the entire process is currently bugged.

[MKMoose]

26 minutes ago, Tam Hawkins said:

But It made me wonder if the entire process is currently bugged.

There are no known bugs related to the shatter chance or its display.

In all likelihood you're just experiencing the wonders of uncontrolled randomness. Breaking a toolhead on QTQ is a 12.6% chance, so breaking 5+/9 (not counting the QQTTQ) is a delightful 0.0022% chance if my math is still right.

Edited October 7 by MKMoose

[Tam Hawkins]

11 minutes ago, MKMoose said:

There are no known bugs related to the shatter chance or its display.

In all likelihood you're just experiencing the wonders of uncontrolled randomness. Breaking a toolhead on QTQ is a 12.6% chance, so breaking 5+/9 (not counting the QQTTQ) is a delightful 0.0022% chance if my math is still right.

Thank you.

That was what I thought happened. But I only have 4 tries for 3 tools left so I first wanted to ask the forum.

I will probably leave it at the first quenching for these three tools.

Further quenching attempts are for when I have much more steel than currently

[Maelstrom]

On 10/7/2026 at 10:18 AM, Tam Hawkins said:

Thank you.

That was what I thought happened. But I only have 4 tries for 3 tools left so I first wanted to ask the forum.

I will probably leave it at the first quenching for these three tools.

Further quenching attempts are for when I have much more steel than currently

I know your frustration.  I had a lot of iron tools break while quenching and tempering.   So many that I questions whether the break percentages were right.  I've found that the first two quenchings are pretty safe.  Most of my breaks happen at the fourth quench with a noticeable number at three as well, but not as many as at 4.

[Professor Dragon]

3 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I know your frustration.  I had a lot of iron tools break while quenching and tempering.   So many that I questions whether the break percentages were right.  I've found that the first two quenchings are pretty safe.  Most of my breaks happen at the fourth quench with a noticeable number at three as well, but not as many as at 4.

Is the buff you get at that point "worth it?" For you, it obviously seems to be. What does a steel pick stats look like?
I typically go for one durability buff only, as that seems worth it to me. I'd rather have a tool, than maybe a "slightly"(???) better tool that shatters.
EDIT: Found a post on this with graphs.

I admit though, I have gone into Creative after a failed quenching and regifted some steel. Yeah, that's a thing. In my view, the quenching system is a "nice idea that hasn't been as well implemented as it could." So I just go for the one quench, and buff up steel production for volume. Plus cheat a bit - very occasionally.

Oh, and @Tam Hawkins, our very own @LadyWYT (and @traugdor for code help, and @MKMoose for original suggestion) went and made a mod Improved Quenching that addresses some of the quenching mechanic concerns.

Professor Dragon. 

Edited October 8 by Professor Dragon

[Maelstrom]

40 minutes ago, Professor Dragon said:

Is the buff you get at that point "worth it?" For you, it obviously seems to be. What does a steel pick stats look like?

I stop quenching at 5 which gives about 84% increase in durability.  But I lose on average about 1.25 - 1.5 toolheads getting there (guestimating based on highly subjective feel). 

I haven't smithed any steel tools yet.  I'll probably put quenching to power over durability though, except for certain items like chisels, hammers and other items that don't have any speed/power benefits.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

2 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

and @traugdor for code help

They really should make a forum account. This is twice now someone has tried to @ mention them and couldn't do it. 

(First was Tyron in a News post)

[Tam Hawkins]

On 10/8/2026 at 11:28 PM, Professor Dragon said:

......

Oh, and @Tam Hawkins, our very own @LadyWYT (and @traugdor for code help, and @MKMoose for original suggestion) went and made a mod Improved Quenching that addresses some of the quenching mechanic concerns.

Professor Dragon. 

I have seen the discussion that birthed that mod as well as the mod itself. It was one of the first things that came up after looking for an answer about my quenching concerns.

But I do not want to use it yet for two reasons. 1) I am currently playing on TOPS, 2) I would like to see more of the quenching system later when I have enough steel that a few failures do not matter so much to me anymore. While I do not like the system yet, I do not want to discard it on the first impression.

Though I will probably use it once I have tried a bit more with the vanilla version and play offline again.