Steel Identification

[Ring]

CSX is redoing all the RR crossings in my little town. There are hundreds of steel plates laying around in piles. They sit on the ties and bracket in the rr track. There are also quite a bit of spikes around too.

The plates are big and heavy. I would say at the middle they are at least 1 inch thick.

Anybody know what kind of steel? Any good for making a knife?

What kind of steel is actual RR track? Theres alot it laying around also.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The track sections can be used as anvils.The fishplates and base plates are mild steel and not usable for knives.

 

[deker]

The track springs are medium carbon steel usually. I've heard speculation of 1050 or so.

-d

 

[Ring]

Thanks bladsmth for the info.

I posted the same question on a machinest forum and this was an answer to what the steel actually is.

"Much of the rail road steel is a work hardening Austenitic Manganese Steel, also called Hadfield Manganese Steel. As the trains roll over it, it will actually work harden and give the steel excellent wear properties. There are several grades most have a Mn content of 11%-14% contained.The Carbon content varies from .70%-1.50% contained and the balance is mainly Iron.

The best condition to machine Manganese Steel is to heat treat with a full anneal. Annealing the material before you try to machine or perform any bending will be your best bet. 1100 degrees F for several hours with a slow control cool of 25-50 degrees F per hour till you reach 900 degrees F and then air cool.

nheng anvil would be a perfect example if Hadfield Steel. As the black smith shaped his objects on the anvil it would over time work harden the surface and exhibit greater wear resistance compared to a 1080 or 52100 other high carbon steels. By the way nheng, nice anvil and what better surface to hammer on than a precision ground one????"


You can read it here : http://www.homeshopmachinist.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=21153