Nearly every bladesmith has made knives from railroad spikes. PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT CUT THE RAIL, WE ONLY SELL THE PIECES AS IS These are leftovers from a contractor who recently finished upgrading a track.All pieces are clean cut and do not have any mushrooming on the top rail.Each rail is approximately 5 inches tall and has a base of 5.25 inches. I'm in Utah so that might be a bit too far haha. Make It From Metal is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. It broke like glass when a photographer dropped it on a concrete floor. For railroad tracks to perform well in the long term, there are two really important qualities that the steel needs to have: high wear resistance and resistance to fracturing. Otherwise, this stuff can be nasty. For forging, keep it well between 1500 and 2150 F. If it’s too cold then it’ll crack, if it’s too hot the carbon will burn out and you’ll have a miserable time with heat treating. Basically, just hold it at that temperature. The HAZ is the part that is discolored (usually a straw or blue color). Railroad tracks are very solid chunks of steel. So if the steel really is 1084, then here’s how you can treat it: If you’re planning on doing a bit of heat treating, it can be really nice to have a infrared thermometer to confirm the temperatures. From shop NorthernCrescentIron. There are a lot of different grades of stainless steel. Hold the head of a railroad spike with these neat tongs from Blacksmiths Depot. If it’s hardened, it will be slow going. Main lines will commonly be 130 pounds per yard, whereas smaller lines could get to around 70 pounds. I'd rather pay more to know what I'm getting and have tried and true instructions for ideal heat-treatment. The reason they can't use dead soft steels is that trains are heavy and make almost point contact on the rails - very concentrated load, high pressures. Let’s go over the properties of this metal, some effective ways of working with it, as well as some good applications for the grade. not in my opinion, but cost of labor and cost of materials means different things to different people and in different regions. The toughness is applied to the body of the rail. It stays sharp as well as some of my cheaper stainless pocket knives. Stainless steel is an extremely common metal, and it's highly useful since it's so good at resisting corrosion. The file should skate across the metal instead of biting in. If the file skates across it, then the metal is harder. E: image of the rails I have, you can see the section on the left, the top face is hardened about 0.25" in. If the track is annealed, you could even use an aggressive flap wheel on an angle grinder and remove a decent amount of material. I have made tools from rail: Scribes, stake anvil, etc. Note: Custom & Bulk Orders Also Accepted. If you’re a pro at heat treating, you might be able to get this right by eye. Our knives are very sharp so open and use them very carefully. It’s the most important part of railroad construction. One of the noticeable features of this steel is the high manganese content. This is the fun part: What can you make with the stuff? If you’re into charts, here are some of the general properties of the steel: If this chart means nothing to you, here’s a quick explanation of what this means: Here’s some more useful information about the size of the tracks: Usually they’re designated by weight per yard. I'm rarely a fan of "mystery" style for any sort of bladesmithing. If you’re not sure how much of an area this is, do a little test cut. It can take a little bit of effort to get into a good shape for knife making, but once you do it’s a carbon steel that’s great for choppers and will definitely hold an edge. Even with the amount of carbon used, they still get washboarding and other deformation over time. Railroad tracks are often referred to as railway tracks or railroad rail. Railroad track steel is typically 1084 or equivalent hot rolled steel. Microstructure of rail steel: Steel used for rails has a very different microstructure from the low carbon mild steel used for railway sleepers. Depending on the size of the trains and rate of use, a track could be expected to last anywhere from 5 to 100 years. Also, always remember that poor heat treatment can ruin even good steel. The microstructure of low carbon steel will be made up of ferrite and cementite.The microstructure of rail steel, however, will consist fully of pearlite.. hide. ... Valentines Gift for men, 11th Anniversary gift for him, Railroad Spike Knife, Steel Gift For Him, K12 NorthernCrescentIron. This type of steel is great for heat treating. Annealing can be a little bit tricky unless you can a controlled oven. We are not responsible for any injuries associated with the use of our knives. And is it good enough to make knives and axe heads out of without having to add a high carbon insert for the cutting edge? Railroad spikes are readily available, usually for free, they are a novel item, and they can make a perfectly useable knife. I'm hoping to make some hammers / axes out of the rail I bought. I stumbled upon a few bladeforums posts that claim it may be 1080/1084 and usable as knife steel. One of the scribes I quenched in oil and did not temper because I wanted it as hard as possible. Get it as soon as Tue, Jan 26. Again, for machining: don’t bother with high speed steel cutters. I have a hydraulic press so it may be realistic for me to forge some track to a usable shape, I'm just wondering if it's actually worth the trouble and expense. Earlier than that, though and it could be anyone’s guess. This is a medium carbon steel with 0.7% to 0.8% carbon and 0.7% to 1% manganese. 10 comments. Care must be taken to ensure that a carbon steel blade does not rust. A wide variety of used railroad steel for sale options are available to you, such as standard, processing service, and application. The carbon range for these track spikes is from 0.17 to 0.25%C, and the manganese content is 0.90-1.35%Mn. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items! Common grades of carbon steel for knife making include C1045, C1075, and C1090. The proportions of other alloying elements are a little different from 10XX steels but I bet they would still heat treat about the same. Either way, it’s a good tool to have. We have the products you need to create your next masterpiece online. Railroad spikes are low carbon steel mild steel, approximately 15 points carbon max, even the ones marked HC which stands for higher carbon, not High Carbon only have about 30 points of carbon. Railroad spikes, which have been used on railroad tracks for more than 100 years, are collector's items for train enthusiasts and historians. Technically, you could do it, but it’ll be ugly and you’ll spend way too much time dressing your tools. It should hold a good temper. Both of these elements increase the strength of the material. I also have done a lot of welding/fabrication, along with special processes. Railroad Spike Knives. So here are some tips for cutting and working with railroad tracks: Obviously, not all railroad track will be exactly the same grade. Make It From Metal also participates in affiliate programs with Bluehost, Clickbank, CJ, ShareASale, and other sites. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. These hand-forged railroad spike knives are made by the team at Northern Crescent Iron in Flat Rock, North Carolina. BLADE LENGTH 3.00". The busy traffic on the railway … Rails and Rail Steel. 76% Upvoted. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Have you made something interesting with railroad tracks? Different Kinds of Stainless (and how to tell what's what). At that hardness, the steel has a really good wear resistance. You want the part where the wheel meets the rail to be hard to avoid deformation, and to minimize friction coefficients. The faces are really hard both by induction and work hardening if the rail has been in use. Do a file test to make sure that it’s hardened properly. Try to keep the metal at that temperature for a couple of minutes by feathering the flame back and forth. Shop with confidence. This is actually pretty popular metal to work with among knife makers. Find great deals on eBay for railway spike knife. To temper the steel, let it sit in an oven at 375 degrees for 2 hours. You’re not going to get too far with a hack saw. 1,173 railway track scrap products are offered for sale by suppliers on Alibaba.com, of which steel scrap accounts for 16%, steel rails accounts for 9%. https://makeitfrommetal.com/what-grade-of-steel-is-railroad-track-uses-and-tips See more ideas about railroad spike knife, railroad spikes, blacksmithing. Make It From Metal is owned and operated by Maverick Manufacturing Solutions. The steel really holds up well against hammering, and these little anvils can work great for fine, detailed work. Railroad track steel, is it high carbon and has anyone ever used it? Cut off a small piece, ideally with a zipcut or some other kind of cutoff disc. Besides fastening, the railroad spike can also be made into some metal artworks such as knife, bottle opener, furniture and so on with reprocessing. Grinding works great. Railroad spikes can be gathered from old tracks, purchased in antique shops or purchased from train enthusiasts, and they are … Steel rail, we also called rails, tracks, is an important element of the rail system.The steel rail is used with rail joint and railway fasteners like rail clip, railraod tie plate, turnouts to make the train run fast and steady without steering. All railroad track steel wholesalers & railroad track steel manufacturers come from members. When you buy steel from us, you can also enjoy speedy delivery, as we can supply your used railway track at short notice. I've managed a machine shop with multiaxis CNC machines for aerospace and medical prototyping and contract manufacturing. I'm skeptical that the rails would be made of such a high carbon steel instead of something tougher, but who am I to talk about trains? We doesn't provide railroad track steel products or service, please contact them directly and verify their companies info carefully. 92. 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