railroad track steel?

B

Bushman5

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Oct 31, 2007
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My father spent about 2 hours with a self feeding metal bandsaw (slowest setting possible to reduce heat) and coolant sprayer to cut a section of well travelled on old railroad track, into just over a 1/4" thick slice.

basically if you were to look at the END of the track, thats what it looks like.

what kind of steel is railroad track? and what could i make form this cross section? ideas?

edit: on a side note, when you hang it suspended from a fishing line and strike it with a piece of steel, it resonates for over a minute. Pretty neat.
 
so pretty much unworkable then? (due to work hardening).

maybe i'll make a little hammer from it, for tapping in tacks .
 
The work hardness is mostly at the track surface. The main body is at whatever hardness the track was made at the foundry. Annealing a cut off piece will turn it back into mid-carbon stock for any projects that require a big piece of steel.

A longer piece of track can be used for a straightening anvil ( especially nice for swords and long blades), a square piece as a cutlers anvil, a 12" piece as a shop "beater" anvil. You could make a BIG heavy hammer. Make a treadle hammer or a JYPH. Or, cut into 4" pieces to become door stops. Smoothing and doming a 10-12" section makes a great fuller anvil for drawing out thick stock and damascus by hand.

PS - Sounds like you need a new blade on your saw.

Stacy
 
^ ol man put a brand new blade on his big bandsaw , but he had been cutting up railroad track all day to make shop anvils for his metalwork students He just likes running the bandsaw at a real slow feed rate and speed. slow and steady....
 
It may make a fine knife, one thing for sure, the old rail sure makes some nice small anvils.
 
My first anvil was a piece of 14" railroad track I found at a yard sale. Still a handy shop tool when I don't feel like walking out to the barn where the real anvil lives :)
 
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