Scrapped a whole aluminum plate last month from that exact sound. 15% stepover saved my next project.

Honestly, that's just part of the job sometimes. At least it was a funny story and not a real emergency.

Forget luck, it's about the steel's actual carbon content. Most 1084 batches run a bit low, acting more like 1075, which can handle water fine. @mary_martin22 has the right idea about shortcuts sometimes working, but this is why. Your water was probably warm from the shop, which also helps. The real fluke was your last three oil quenches maybe being too slow.