RR spikes

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
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well i was out driving when i spoted on the side of the road a pile of RR spikes. now thay where not on the RR property thay where on the side of the road on thoes concreet deviders you see thay use when working on the street. thay where stacked no them and most of the time i will not go on RR property and take stuff, thats stealing. but these where on the road like some one that works for the rr put them there on purpos. well i quickley snatched them up. i ended up with about 100 total and thay all are HC, but what i would like to know is that there is also another letter with the HC and that is a W. so when you look at the head of the spike it looks like this

W HC

What does the W mean, and also are these of any use to me. also some of them have a number 2 on them as well. let me know what you think. thanks
 
From what I've been told, the HC spikes are not really "high" carbon. Usually about 1030 or so. That being said, there's a lot of cool stuff you can make out of 'em. Good score!

As for the "W". I've got no idea, sorry.

-d
 
I have had very good luck getting the HC spikes to harden in an oil quench. I have RC tested several tomahawks and knives and have gotten as high as RC 52 after tempering. I would say they are at least 1045 but I would also say that varies quite a bit. I do know that an HC spike is MUCH harder to forge by hand than one that is not marked.

I have read where the HC spikes are only used in switches and curves due to the added stress at these places in the track.

I also have no idea about the W> I have also seen a lot them marked with an S.

They are lots of fun to work and its surprising the amount of drawing you can get from one...
 
the W is the Mfg. mark
Means they are made at Wellington Industries Sand Springs OK.
 
I found that if they take the time to mark the top of the spike it would harden to some extent. I have played with many of the marked and unmarked spikes and this is the way it seemed to work, for me at least. I had access to an unlimited supply, used to work for a R/R and walked track frequently. The track gang would always leave a few new or slightly bent spikes laying around. I had all I could carry at times. As far as the usefulness of a spike knife is concerned, if it does't cut em you can always thow it at them, may do more harm that way. They are great for practicing your blade forging techniques.

Chuck
 
Nice score. Those spikes are alot of fun and if your concerned about the edge holding, you can split them down the middle with a bandsaw (after annealing them) and slide a piece of HC steel in the cut. Then forge weld the whole thing together. I've done this on alot of spikes.
 
I have made several dozen spike knives and sold them. Not one customer has ever complained about the edge holding ability of them. My neighbor has used his to cut rope and hay bale twine for over two years and it is still sharp. They have got alot of bad press on the forums, mostly by people that have never made them or used them. The ones I forge are brand new so there is much less chance of stress cracks in them vs. used ones.

All of mine were quenched in superquench and have a chisel edge. Edge geometery is as important as the C content and how you quench them. I have oil quenched a few and they seem to have the same hardness. I also have a few cold chisels made from RR spikes that hold up real well.

Pound a few knives out with them and I think you will like them. As long as your disclose to your customer(s) that they are low carbon and not the industry standard for blade steel there should be no problem. They still buy them anyway because of the novelty, that and you can't get them at your local Wally World.
 
superquench? also i recounted and i onley have 70, but i think that should be plunty for a wile.
 
tnmike said:
I have had very good luck getting the HC spikes to harden in an oil quench. I have RC tested several tomahawks and knives and have gotten as high as RC 52 after tempering. I would say they are at least 1045 but I would also say that varies quite a bit.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that if you're getting real hardness out of them in oil, it's probably better than 1045.
It would be interesting to have one tested to find out for sure.
 
This is all very cool. I recently picked up about a dozen, and at least one has a readable HC mark. I haven't yet done any forge work but this seems like a great first project.

I'd ultimately like a knife out of one, but for my first few attempts do you think that some (heavy) letter openers with a decorative twist or two would be a good idea?


Also, is there any resource on RR spikes, such as that would give tempering temperatures and that sort of thing? It seems to me that they vary considerably, making such generalisations impossible, but I figured it was worth asking.

BFinnigan,
Could you explain a bit more about why edge geometry is important when working with RR spikes or point me to where I could find out?
 
I quench mine in oil and temper at 425F for one hour. Its worked for me and Ive made a bunch of hawks and knives. I have also made letter openers with twists like you describe. I have gone high tech on my hawk eyes...Ive been using a milling machine to mill a 1/8" center slot. This allows easy drifting of the eye and keeps the width of the haft wall thicker.
 
They are good practice for forging and grinding integrals and making a choil that is also a guard (of sorts). I put a 25 deg edge on them so there is a bit more beef. The edge is a chisel vs an appleseed which I normally do.

Just play around with them and you will find out what works best. I buy mine brand new for .84 cents so screwing up a few is no big loss. From start to finish I can get one done in just under three hours and have less then $2 of materials used including the sheath.

spikeknife.jpg


Nothing fancy but fun and easy to forge.
 
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