i don't know the full history of the crank in question. it's a factory forged 440 crank. i was told it had been in a motor that was sprayed with NO2. i don't know how much or how often though.
the plan was to use it in a fairly mild low deck combo after cutting the mains and counterweights down.
i sure can't blame a 40+ year old crank for finally giving out after being abused. i'm just glad the owner let us check it out before doing a bunch of work to it. no harm, no foul, we found a good useable crank for his project.