Railroad spike knife

**hellize** · 08-02-2012, 10:42 AM

Hello

I made a little recycling again.

It is forged from a genuine american railroad spike. Unfortunately here in Transylvania I can only find bolts.
Its total length is 25 cm. The blade is 3 cm wide, 4 mm thick and 13.5 cm long.
The sheath is hand sewn from 3 mm thick cow hide, fancified a little with a steam locomotive.

Hope you guys and gals like it.

**hellize** · 08-07-2012, 11:03 AM

Thanks!

There is a saga to this one, which goes like this:
Once upon a time, the spike served at the railway, securing successfully the rail of course. And Spike was happy for decades, but the day came when the company changed the old wooden sleepers to new reinforced concrete ones. And suddenly our little hero found itself in a scrapyard, with thousands of his comrades, without a job and without a future, ripped from their pride. The horror of melting in, hung above their steel heads as the sword of Damocles. But then, unexpectedly luck shined upon his rusty face. His tiny metal heart filled with joy once again, when someone with a great amount of imagination picked him up from the muddy scrapyard floor. The gentleman undoubtedly had a holy vision of what this little spike and their brothers in arm could become, and praise be mighty Hephaestus, he delivered them to me.
Than he transformed in the divine, golden flames of my humble forge, never forgetting the past!
Hence, he was given a second life, becoming a knife

But this is only a legend, kids.

**klumsy** · 01-31-2013, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by hellize

Hello

I made a little recycling again.

It is forged from a genuine american railroad spike. Unfortunately here in Transylvania I can only find bolts.
Its total length is 25 cm. The blade is 3 cm wide, 4 mm thick and 13.5 cm long.
The sheath is hand sewn from 3 mm thick cow hide, fancified a little with a steam locomotive.

Hope you guys and gals like it.

(fyi: these pictures would look great blown up really big!)

Awesome knife, and I like your little "saga" story as well.
I made a bottle opener out of a railroad spike, and am thinking about making a knife (I've got plenty of spikes for mistakes). I'm just wondering how the knife edge really holds up? Does railroad steel hold an edge, or is it the wrong kind of steel? Or is the knife more decorative than functional?
Plus, are you really in Transylvania?