Railroad Track anvil

[unky_gumbi]

So the other day I was given an 18" chunk of railroad track to use as an anvil till I find a real one. It was roughly shaped, but still needs some work, okay a lot of work.

In return for the loan I get to shape it in to an anvil like shape. Going by the measurements I have narrowed it down to a heavy gauge rail, the base is 6" across, the head is 3" across, and it has a height of 7 1/8", so by the charts Ihave found that would make it either section index 13228 or 13128. that would make them 132lbs/yd or 131lbs/yd making my section come in around 66lbs.

Believe it or not it seems to have really good rebound, dropping the hammer head onto it from 6" it rebounds approximately 3". It is also an end piece so one end is square and sharp cornered. Aside from shaping a horn, is there any thing else I should do to it? Yes the head is slightly rounded, but I doubt that I can get it flat with an angle grinder. I do have a bit of time before I could use it, temps here wont be warm enough for a few months to start hammering outside

 

[loneronin]

this is mine and I love it. I need a real anvil or a post anvil but this is my little baby!

 

[J.Marsillo]

You dont have to go nuts shaping it,all you really need is a nicely radiused corner and keep the one end squared.After watching Burt Foster forge out an integral with a home depot hammer and a plain anvil its obvious that the talent is in the hands,not the tools. Keep pounding :thumbup:

 

[Fred.Rowe]

These rxr track sections make fine forging surfaces. The radius top is excellent for drawing and length wise for straightening.
The ends are grest to neck down tangs or ricassos. I learned to forge on a section of track and I fond them to be good teachers.

Fred