Regarding 'calm places to cool' ... one of the best is a good bed of warm ashes [not still burning, but with temps of say 100 F or so] where the object welded can be buried to normalize back to ambient temp over a long time period. It is a technique I was taught for brazing &/or welding cracks in cast iron that needed to stay repaired and not re-fail or crack near the repair. It has always served me well in that application.
It could possibly prove of value when doing bbl. welding repairs when a controled oven/furnace environment is not readily available. I dunno, never having used it for that particular application, but thot to mention it anyway as it is quite effective for ensuring any hot object cools very slowly.
