Fair price for machinist work on rail-track-anvil?

D

dmelton

Joined
Jan 2, 2001
Messages
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Recently a friend of mine came across a 5 foot section of discarded railroad track. After lugging the thing to his house we cut it with a 4x6 metalcutting bandsaw (2 hours). I'd like to have 12 inches of my peice of track turned into a small anvil. Since this is unused track the top is still rounded so I'm looking around at some machine shops that might be able to mill the top of it flat. What's a fair price for this type of work? Also, since the top has not been used it's not work hardened, what's a good method to harden something like this?


Thanks for your ideas!!
Derek Melton
Clinton, MS.
 
The price from the machine shop will greatly depend on his current work load, machine avalability, and the general mood of the guy at the time when you show up.

If he is bored, but friendly...you might get away with lunch money as he would be glad to to it just to give him something to work on before he falls asleep.

If he is swamped with an order that is already overdue and over cost....watch out! He's not wanting to get involved and his price will reflect it. In this situation you may be viewed as a headache with no money attached so he run you off.

Also it depends on who is in the shop when you ask.....the general foreman may not dare take on anywork without checking with the boss about the rate. However the owner may take an interest in your hobby and be glad to help out for free......tough to call before hand.

You just have to get out and see if you can make some friends with these guys.

Generally shops may charge $50-$80/hour.

On the other hand, if you are ever in the central Ohio area, swing by and I would be glad to do it while you wait. Heck! it gets lonely out in the shop as my wife no longer ventures out there.

Good Luck,
Rob
 
Rob, the $50-80 hourly rate isn't what I found rediculous, it's the $200 set up fee. And I feel bad about asking a fair price for my knives, sheesh!
 
See if you can find a piece of road grader blade. The bottom edge is replaced when worn and usually free, they are hard enough as is. Have the piece water jet cut or laser cut to size, price depends on your smile. Have it welded on. Makes a great RR track anvil, now you will have a smooth and hard top layer about an inch thick. For knives you don't need to shape a horn on the end like a blacksmith anvil has.
 
Do you really need it flatter than it is? As the others are saying, it might cost more than buying a used anvil, or even a Harbor Freight cheapie. As someone already suggested, you might weld on a flat piece on top, and use a grinder on it. Japanese sword makers use a rectangle of steel for their anvils, that might be the cheapest choice of all. The primary benefit of a RR track anvil is low cost which goes away unless you can do the work yourself, unless you know a good natured machinist such as Mr. Frink. A one foot length won't be all that heavy either, assuming you want it for hammering knives. This information is based on Wayne Goddard's stories of RR anvils. They can work great, but...
 
I have a piece about 10" long that I ground down. I used a little air belt sander with a 36 grit belt to get it flat. The belt on the sander is only 3/8" x 13" and it only took a few minutes. If you don't have a little sander you could do it on your platen.
Joe
 
I am curently useing a 4" x 8" x 24" block of steel with a 3 1/2" x 1/2" bush hog leaf spring for the hard face. It works well for forging to shape, but under heavy pounding the welds keep brakeing loose.

Sometime I plan on getting a block of 1040(or some thing like it), and harding it, so I wont have to wory about the face breaking loose.

I have heard that you can go to offshore companies and maybe find an old Kelly bar, it is hardend tool steel and most scrap yards will cut a piece for you. I don't know, it's something I'm going to look into when I get back offshore.

If you have the opertunity, read Wayne Goodard's "Wonder of knifemakeing", there is a good section on makeshift anvils there.
 
I took a piece of cold rolled steel 1" x 3" x 18" and had it welded on top at a local steel supply shop, also have them burn 4 holes in the 4 bottom corners so you can lag bolt it down to your stump or log.
I use mine to do all my hot cutting on, and for when I'm punching holes in tomahawk heads. Keeps my anvil face from gettin all messed up. I believe it cost me about $15 for the cold rolled steel, welding and burning the holes in it. That was the hardest steel I could find, but it works good and won't mark up to bad if you don't hammer on it cold. Good Luck ;)

Bill
 
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