Fluting

[grayfox]

While my skepticism on cryo-treatments has been expressed elsewhere (so I won't go into it again and to each his own as far as opinions on it go), it probably depends more on the skill and quality of the mfr and the particular process they use to make the flutes. Could possibly be that no additional stresses are introduced, or a lot of stress introduced. If any work hardening, excessive local heating, or plastic deformation is caused (ie, grain realignments), that could be a problem but is mostly in the hands of the barrel maker who's doing the work.

Perhaps there is someone on here who has more metallurgy expertise and might chime in.