Tav, you might be interested to know the following, it seems I wasn't quite right about the socketing reward:

Quote Originally Posted by Arreat Summit
Normal items add the max number of Sockets depending on the item's level (this is determined by the level of the monster that dropped it) and the inherent maximum number of Sockets for the item's base type. So you may not always receive the "max" number of Sockets.
So, I guess if you get a flail from a low level monster and use the socket reward on it, you might get only 4 sockets. But if you get it from a really low level you might get three sockets. Is that what this is saying? I guess this method wouldn't be anymore or less risky than the rune method.