railroad track question

[quint]

Well after reading that most railroad track was basically a 1080 or similar type steel I picked up a 9ft section off of CL. It was actually from a old oyster company used for who knows what. Was curious, the track is marked ILLINOIS STEEL COMPANY SOUTH WKS X 1908 was wondering if that was the date of the track manufacture the 1908. Anybody know much if anything about this stuff.

Also was wondering is the top portion and the bottom portion the same steel. Was thinking of making hawks and such out of it and just curious if I could use the whole thing or would I have to count the bottom of it as waste.

Thanks all.

 

[fast14riot]

How do you plan on cutting it? Torch? I can't help you on what it is, but I know that most I have seen is of mono steel construction, and I have seen knives/tools made from it. If you have almost 800-1000 pound of potentially good knife steel, send off a chunk to be analyzed. If its good, you will be saving a bit of money, I'm sure!


-Xander

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

As far as I know, it is all the same.

 

[quint]

Dont have that much, would have to weigh it but probably around 200-250# guessing. Maybe a tad more. Probably inquire about getting it analyzed. May still be worth it.

Thanks Stacy, I think there are minor variations but overall hopefully pretty close to the same.