![]() ![]() Rail can make a relatively low cost power hammer ram. Such tools can be flat with sharper corners than the anvil, or dressed to a dome or radius shape.Īnvil tools do many of the jobs of a swage block with less expense.Īfter cutting two fullers off the opposite ends of a short piece of rail I had a handy bench anvil. Other anvil tools can be sawn or torch cut very close to shape.Īfter shaping the rough tool it can be heated an a bar or shape sunk into it. Rail is just high enough carbon that if water quenched while overheated it will crack. Very little forging is required to make a fuller from rail.Ī little tapering and dressing of the corners, then grind or file smooth. So a one foot piece of 140 pound rail weighs 46.7 pounds.Ī one foot piece of more common 120 pound rail weighs 40 pounds and when cut to "anvil" shape maybe as little as 30 pounds. Note that rail is measured in the pounds per yard, not per foot like structural steel. This fuller was sawn off the end of a piece of 140# rail. Heavy rail has about a 3/4" web and is great for the beginner making anvil tools to fit a small anvil (100 to 150 pounds). The entire anvil's purpose was for making horse shoe nail rings. It has a through hole and impression to support a #6Ĭapewell nail for putting initials on the faces of the head. ![]() It has a spring steel top plate welded on. This little 6" anvil is made from some old pre 1865 Pre 1860's rail is lower quality and some is actually wrought iron. Modern Rail road rail is a medium to high carbon steel (aprox 1075). There may be some ideas for the rest of you. Is stuff for the beginner or the scrounger. My dad collected it for use on the farm in the 50's.This demo is on making tools out of RR-rail. My anvil is made from a narrow gauge rail road that they used for logging and mining on the mountain behind my house, when they were finished they tore up the tracks and left it in piles all over the mountain. I didn't know there were so many rules around railroads. My forage harvester has metal alert to protect it from ferrous metals and is so sensitive that a couple of years ago when the street sweeper came up the road and was losing some of his metal bristles out of his brush, I couldn't pick up the rows along the road. ![]() About fifty were picked up from the field. Seems the railroad crew had been replacing some ties where the tracks ran alongside his field and someone decided they should see how far they could throw spikes. Hour later he's back, metal again, another set of knives, cutterbar and repair the cylinder once again. We spent the afternoon replacing a set of knives, cutterbar and repairing the damaged cylinder, sent him on his way. We had a farmer come into the shop early one after noon, picked up some metal in his forage harvester. I was warned off the chinese cast iron anvils as being very poor unless you want to weld a plate of tool steel over the stiking surface. I found one source selling new anvils for the best prices with $10 shipping. Add that scarcity to a re interest in blacksmithing and the prices for used ones are just crazy. Everyone that had one laying around cashed it in when scrap metal was at it`s high point. By me anvils were once plentiful and cheap, that is certainly no longer the case. Thanks guys, I enjoyed making it a great deal. I did some grinding but ran out of light and will finish it later. I toasted one set of plasma consumables doing the cutting and shaping. ![]() I used the LOTOS LTP5000D 50A Pilot Arc Plasma Cutter to cut out the center web and to rough in the horn before grinding, the center section cut easily at the 50amp setting and I had good results shaping the horn.I was able to remove the wire standoff from the plasma tips ceramic cone and use it like a whittling knife to pare away the steel a little at a time with almost pinpoint control like a sculptor shaves clay. One 12 inch piece of 5+ inch tall track and an 8 inch piece of 8+ tall track. As luck would have it in one afternoon I had been gifted two pieces of RR track that friends had in their garages. As it is the holiday season I have been running around handing out bottled Christmas "Cheer" to friends and I now always ask everyone if they know where an anvil is or where pieces of RR track can be had. I`ve been looking for a reasonably priced anvil but have not had much luck, I also have been seeking a piece of RR track to make a poor mans anvil. ![]()
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