Steel in railroad spike?

P

pso

Joined
Oct 29, 1998
Messages
494
Does anyone know what steel railroad spikes are made from. Is it hardenable? Does the steel vary from one manufacturer to another?

It seems that the rails, themselves, are made from a work hardened type.

Thanks.
 
pso-
I've heard some are 1095 but on the head
they have HC for high carbon and some others
have a different mark that I can't remember
but the way I understand if there isn't any
mark on the head then there isn't enough carbon in it (correct me if I'm wrong)
Steve45
 
pso,
This fellow, Ron Hembrook makes some of his blades out of railroad spikes, check out his site:

www.hembrook.com

I have no earthly idea what kind of steel is used in railroad spikes but I thought that this may a starting point to find out.

CLWilkins
------------------
This is an edited reply I received back from an email from Ron Hembrook:

On Railroad spikes its honestly a shot in the dark with each one. Most contain a lot of Iron and scrap steel, problem is you don't know how much of each element. I found the best have been ones with writing on
ends. I researched some thru Chicago Northwestern R/R and found out that there all made from scrap Steel-Iron. I have had
best sucess heat treating as such. Heat to 1400-1450deg. quench in a heavy salt
brine. They harden to about 50Rc. Some require oil quench, some straight water, some don't harden at all.

Most R/R spike knives are made for collectors and don't get used. I hope
this helps.

Ron Hembrook


[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 01 May 1999).]
 
Well pso, you are right about the tracks being hard. There is a rail road near my house with some realy old tracks that have splintered pieces off! Sometimes I can find pieces 3 feet long and they make excelent knives with razor sharp blades. Funny thing is they're always magnetic so I figure that the nickle content is quite high.
 
The railroad spikes I know of contains about 0.20% C wich makes it a really baaaaaad material for blades. But I suppose there are other sorts with higher carbon contest.
I work as a computer tech at a steelmill in sweden and we make some steel sorts wich is allmost identical with the steel used in railroad tracks in sweden(and probably other countries), the analyze is:
0.75%C - 0.30%Si - 0.75%Mn and 0.25%Cr & Ni

//SCB
 
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