Cheap railroad spike knives

My big question is what kind of steel is a spike made of and does it even make a good knife?
 
jstrange said:
My big question is what kind of steel is a spike made of and does it even make a good knife?
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No. There are high carbon spikes and low carbon spikes, (they are marked HC to differentiate them from the low carbon spikes). Even the HC spikes are still relatively low in carbon compared to any high carbon knife steel, comparable to 1045. This has been discussed ad nauseam in the knife makers section. They can and do make interesting novelty forged items and might be just the ticket for the OPs business model. But will they make a good knife as defined in these pages. No.
 
jstrange said:
My big question is what kind of steel is a spike made of and does it even make a good knife?
Click to expand...

https://www.thebarefootforge.com/blog/2019/11/4/railroad-spikes-are-hc-spikes-high-carbon
Interesting article I found, and ironically "keystone spikes" which is mentioned, is right down the road from my house.

It appears 0.35% carbon for the "HC" stamped spikes would likely be absolute high end, but could even be as low as 0.26% depending on maker and batch source.
So even 1045 is a generous comparrison at 0.42 - 0.5%, HC spikes would appear more in the 1035 realm... a nonstainless precurser to 420j2.

That said, you could probably do better making throwing knives and/or throwing axes out of them. Or forming functional hatchet heads and war hammer-esque type stuff, add a nice ash or hickory handle, as their toughness property should be perfect for that route rather then edge holding...
 
Hello all, I'm a new member just dipping my feet into forging and knife making. I couldn't find a thread with my question so hope you all could share some insight.
I have a box of railroad spikes, I recognize that they aren't a good steel for knives, however is the time spent and experience gained forging with them worth the effort rather than buying steel immediately? Good steel is cheap, but not free, my mentality is that I would rather burn through five to ten spikes with my first few tries before moving on to something substantial. Any suggestions?
 
You can get better scrap steel than spikes and when you're done you have a useable knife and better skills. You want to practice forging skills, use ball bearings like Ed Fowler.
 
I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and help a newbie out
Noted I'll find a different use for the spikes, what scrap do you recommend I keep my eye out for in that case? I have heard of using old files, wrenches, lawnmower blades, etc. on different websites although I'm not wanting to put the energy into finding them unless they are worth the hunt.
On a different note, I've heard of using the spark test to see if a steel is high carbon, would you know of other methods or ways of researching metals to test carbon percentage?
Sorry for the load of questions, I'm excited to start
 
Vaughn Cameron Smith said:
Hello all, I'm a new member just dipping my feet into forging and knife making. I couldn't find a thread with my question so hope you all could share some insight.
I have a box of railroad spikes, I recognize that they aren't a good steel for knives, however is the time spent and experience gained forging with them worth the effort rather than buying steel immediately? Good steel is cheap, but not free, my mentality is that I would rather burn through five to ten spikes with my first few tries before moving on to something substantial. Any suggestions?
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Yes, spikes are good forging material, it moves well. You learn more about manipulating steel starting with square stock than flat stock. It’s not great steel for knife making buy you can learn from making several. You can twist the handle, make a pineapple twist or flatten it for scales.
I’ve made a few and split the spike then inserted a high carbon(1080) bit and forged welded it for a san mai spike knife with a quality cutting edge.
 
3fifty7 said:
Yes, spikes are good forging material, it moves well. You learn more about manipulating steel starting with square stock than flat stock. It’s not great steel for knife making buy you can learn from making several. You can twist the handle, make a pineapple twist or flatten it for scales.
I’ve made a few and split the spike then inserted a high carbon(1080) bit and forged welded it for a san mai spike knife with a quality cutting edge.
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Oh that sounds awesome, I hadn't even realized it was possible to forge weld a metal into another metal like that. Down the next YouTube rabbit hole I go
 
Alberta Ed said:
Railroad spike knives are junk. Learn to forge real steel instead.
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I agree completely, my question is regarding the learning process more than anything and if they are worthwhile to play around with while I'm first starting. I'm wondering if the experience gained is worth the time input as I already have a box of spikes, I would need to buy steel stock
Please note that I'm also a college student, my budget varies between nonexistent and the free section on Craigslist most of the time
 
I would say go for it! It would be a fun and cheap/free project to practice on, and you could design a cool knife to make from better steel later. Also, I would say that the steel is fine, not great but it will make a functional knife. Remember that youre asking enthusiasts here, and they are used to using super steels and fancy custom knives and all that. Most people would be served just fine with a railroad spike knife, you just have to sharpen it more than a Sebenza. Sometimes us forum folk forget that we are crazy knife snobs, we have to try and remember back to when we were normal people who would have happily used a railroad spike knife. :D
 
CVamberbonehead said:
I would say go for it! It would be a fun and cheap/free project to practice on, and you could design a cool knife to make from better steel later. Also, I would say that the steel is fine, not great but it will make a functional knife. Remember that youre asking enthusiasts here, and they are used to using super steels and fancy custom knives and all that. Most people would be served just fine with a railroad spike knife, you just have to sharpen it more than a Sebenza. Sometimes us forum folk forget that we are crazy knife snobs, we have to try and remember back to when we were normal people who would have happily used a railroad spike knife. :D
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Thank you for the feedback! I think I am going to start with hammering out four or five railroad spikes and "graduate' from there to a stock steel after I am decently sure I won't outright waste it (I've heard 1080 is forgiving?).
 
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