Railroad Spike Knives

i bought a neck knife with walnut scales and leather sheath, forged from an old mine railroad spike, from a knife maker in Idaho. superb little knife; v. sharp, edge holds well. could field dress an elk with it if necessary. liked it so much, i bought a 2nd one for my son. i've also given him more expensive customs, but he just told me how much he too, really likes his railroad spike necker.
PM me if you want to know the maker. roland
 
I saw some of these at a "Market Days" fair in Gruen, TX (pronounced "Green")
a year or so ago. (see: http://www.gruenemarketdays.com/ )

Shoulda got one then ! Don't recall the maker...
maybe Bob Warner? (Bob, if you see this, please post...or email me - mikehop@ont.com)

They were around $70 then, which I thought too pricey at the time...DOH!!
Beautiful but heavy...it's a knife!...it's a club!...it's a hammer!...it's all three!!
:)

JMH
 
Hillsville, VA Labor Day Weekend has a huge flea market. Residence have yard sales, too. I imagine there would be many knives and stuff to choose from. Wonder if I could find one there.
 
I got one a year ago for a friend of mine who retired off the RR in Montana. The maker is Lyle Brunckhorst and when I got the piece I almost didn't give it to my friend! Beautiful.
www.bronksknifeworks.com
Worth a look!
Gargs
 
I have about 50 spikes lying around and am planning on making a forge this weekend. I know they won't be pretty at first, but pounding on them sure will take out some aggression. I came across a site today that had wooden scales on a spike knife. Interesting idea but I'm sure they are sure heavey. I wonder if there's a way to lighten them up a little bit.
 
Remember that railroad spikes have low carbon content (even those marked as HC) and therefore edge retention may be an issue for one used as a knife routinely.
 
there are a bunch of guys in the shop talk area (myself included) who can pound out a rail road spike knife pretty quickly. you should ask them if you want one.
 
The twisted handles are simple. The heavy weight, and hammer like head on the handle would be useful. Maybe a quality carbon steel could be forged to look similar and do the same think.
 
Personally, I like mine a lot. It has a lot of character, and it's a one-off as they all are. I only paid $35.00 for it, plus sheath (additional $10 or $15, don't recall for sure).

It's one of my absolute favorite knives I've ever owned. To the point I am REALLY tempted to build myself a charcoal forge, pick up an anvil etc., and start making my own.

RailroadSpike.jpg


Edge retention isn't quite as good as some of my other knives, but as long as I touch it up with a strop, I can keep it very sharp. It's actually the sharpest knife I own right now.
 
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jbombelli said:
Personally, I like mine a lot. It has a lot of character, and it's a one-off as they all are. I only paid $35.00 for it, plus sheath (additional $10 or $15, don't recall for sure).

It's one of my absolute favorite knives I've ever owned. To the point I am REALLY tempted to build myself a charcoal forge, pick up an anvil etc., and start making my own.

RailroadSpike.jpg


Edge retention isn't quite as good as some of my other knives, but as long as I touch it up with a strop, I can keep it very sharp. It's actually the sharpest knife I own right now.
Click to expand...


Gotta tell ya J, that is much better looking than I expected. In fact, I'm tempted to look into procuring one for myself. It's damn interestesting.
 
jbombelli said:
Personally, I like mine a lot. It has a lot of character, and it's a one-off as they all are. I only paid $35.00 for it, plus sheath (additional $10 or $15, don't recall for sure).

It's one of my absolute favorite knives I've ever owned. To the point I am REALLY tempted to build myself a charcoal forge, pick up an anvil etc., and start making my own.

RailroadSpike.jpg


Edge retention isn't quite as good as some of my other knives, but as long as I touch it up with a strop, I can keep it very sharp. It's actually the sharpest knife I own right now.
Click to expand...

Who made that one?
 
Sword and Shield said:
Who made that one?
Click to expand...

I bought it off of some guy at the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife show last year. He had a few of them. I don't remember his name, unfortunately. I was just walking by and there they were. So I bought one. But I did ask him if he made it himself, and he confirmed. He had several other knives he made himself, as well.
 
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