Railroad Track Anvil aka "Poor Mans Anvil"

[linus6948]

I`ve been looking for a reasonably priced anvil but have not had much luck, I also have been seeking a piece of RR track to make a poor mans anvil. As it is the holiday season I have been running around handing out bottled Christmas "Cheer" to friends and I now always ask everyone if they know where an anvil is or where pieces of RR track can be had. As luck would have it in one afternoon I had been gifted two pieces of RR track that friends had in their garages. One 12 inch piece of 5+ inch tall track and an 8 inch piece of 8+ tall track.
I used the LOTOS LTP5000D 50A Pilot Arc Plasma Cutter to cut out the center web and to rough in the horn before grinding, the center section cut easily at the 50amp setting and I had good results shaping the horn.I was able to remove the wire standoff from the plasma tips ceramic cone and use it like a whittling knife to pare away the steel a little at a time with almost pinpoint control like a sculptor shaves clay. I toasted one set of plasma consumables doing the cutting and shaping.
I did some grinding but ran out of light and will finish it later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2014 by linus6948

[linus6948]

Today I did a little more shaping and removed a little more of the center web below the horn with the plasma cutter and then did some more grinding and started sanding with a flap disk. So far I am very pleased with this plasma cutter and how it performs shaping metal.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2014 by linus6948

[40plyrod]

I made one a while ago but not nearly so refined. I like yours better, very nice job!

[mrwrstory]

That's a great looking piece.  I'm now on the hunt for a piece of track.

[Don Coatney]

You are not the first one to make an anvil. My uncle made this one sometime in the 30's, 40's. He worked on a lot of small stuff

 

 

An anvil is a very handy tool to have. Sometimes it just feels good to beat on stuff. I bought this one about 30-40 years ago for twenty bucks.

 

[Ulu]

I've been shopping for an anvil online, but haven't found a good used one for a reasonable price yet. Plus they're all on the east coast & probably real civil war relics, costing way too much.

 

Not to mention shipping. Most folks don't want to ship a 90lb+ anvil.

 

I found a 65 lb forged steel anvil new for a more reasonable price ($1.25 a lb roughly) and it's in California so shipping no problem. Probably from Mexico. Not sure you could ship an anvil from China so cheap.

 

But then I found people trying to sell short hunks of rusty railroad track for $50 + shipping too.   

[linus6948]

Thanks guys, I enjoyed making it a great deal. By me anvils were once plentiful and cheap, that is certainly no longer the case. Everyone that had one laying around cashed it in when scrap metal was at it`s high point. Add that scarcity to a re interest in blacksmithing  and the prices for used ones are just crazy. I found one source selling new anvils for the best prices with $10 shipping.

http://www.well-shod.com/catalog.php?category[0]=Cliff+Carroll+Anvils

 

http://www.well-shod.com/catalog.php?category[0]=NC+Tool+Co.+Anvils

 

I was warned off the chinese cast iron anvils as being very poor unless you want to weld a plate of tool steel over the stiking surface. Here are some useful anvil links...

 

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/making/rr_anvils_photos.php

 

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/making/RR-rail_anvils.php

 

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/grizzly_and_ASO.php

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Railroad-Track-Anvil/?ALLSTEPS

Edited December 21, 2014 by linus6948

[Don Coatney]

I at one time had a hunk of RR track. I might still have it buried in the bottom of a cabinet that I have not opened for a while. I have several heavy hydraulic jacks in the bottom of that cabinet and when I moved the movers got a surprise when they tried to lift it.

[Ulu]

Thanks for the links, Linus.

 

While I have no interest in shoeing horses, that 70 lb Carroll anvil is now on my Christmas list; because I do often have the manly desire to heat steel until it glows and smash it with a big hammer.  

 

This usually results in something useful like a trailer hitch or a barbecue grille. Also sometimes scrap metal.

 

What I have in mind is some suspension customizing and making nerf bars. I have this gasoline fired blower device which once was slated to be a military jeep engine heater if I decide I need to build an actual forge.

 

So who besides me thinks a forged steel anvil might be easy to crack? I thought they were typically cast iron and not steel just for that reason. 

 

Also, seeing as how I live in a rodeo town....I have these 4 horseshoes which would make cool nerf bars . I've been using them to weight down a tarp.   ​ 

[TodFitch]

. . . So who besides me thinks a forged steel anvil might be easy to crack? I thought they were typically cast iron and not steel just for that reason. . .

It has been a long time since my materials class back in college but my recollection is that cast iron is brittle and not a good thing to be pounding on. But a forged item or something like wrought iron is ductile enough to avoid fracturing when being beat upon.

[Jeff Balazs]

Seems to me that I have read somewhere that railroad rails make a dangerous anvil. I recall that they can shards flying as they are too hard. I don't remember the source or the specifics.

 

Jeff

[Dave72dt]

the top surface of the rails are hard.  center and bottom are softer.  I was told you could score the top, hit it and it would crack along the score mark, the rest of it needed to be cut.  Info from a guy who had a permit to salvage the rails.  Around here, even the replaced ties remained railroad property and removal without permits would result in theft charges if caught.

[Don Coatney]

Railroads live by there own set of rules.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the top surface of the rails are hard.  center and bottom are softer.  I was told you could score the top, hit it and it would crack along the score mark, the rest of it needed to be cut.  Info from a guy who had a permit to salvage the rails.  Around here, even the replaced ties remained railroad property and removal without permits would result in theft charges if caught.

IF you ever go to a scrap yard you will/should see a sign with pictures of the railroad property that is common to a train track..they are not allow to buy or process without written approval in form of letter for the exact material offered for scrap...and that is right down to a single railroad spike..and YET...it amazes me that a lot of yard art, sculptures and such of these aspiring artist has these very articles in full display...so theft is acceptable in the art world is all I can gather from this...

[Niel Hoback]

When I tried to sell scrap they stopped me from unloading  a piece of track.  He said "it's a federal offense to buy or sell rail road property, the railroads do not give away ties, plates, spikes, or track, and we cannot buy it."  Followed by a terse "take it back where you got it".  The meaning is, if you have it, we assume you stole it".  There is a 12 or 15" piece of rail sinking into the ground next to my garage that I have had for several decades, and I guess my kids will have to deal with it. 

[Dave72dt]

Sometimes they live by regular rules. We had a farmer come into the shop early one after noon, picked up some metal in his forage harvester. We spent the afternoon replacing a set of knives, cutterbar and repairing the damaged cylinder, sent him on his way. Hour later he's back, metal again, another set of knives, cutterbar and repair the cylinder once again. Seems the railroad crew had been replacing some ties where the tracks ran alongside his field and someone decided they should see how far they could throw spikes. About fifty were picked up from the field. Railroad paid the bill for both repairs.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Dave72dt

[Frank Elder]

That's a section of switch rail, lightning holes and all....

[40plyrod]

Sometimes they live by regular rules. We had a farmer come into the shop early one after noon, picked up some metal in his forage harvester. We spent the afternoon replacing a set of knives, cutterbar and repairing the damaged cylinder, sent him on his way. Hour later he's back, metal again, another set of knives, cutterbar and repair the cylinder once again. Seems the railroad crew had been replacing some ties where the tracks ran alongside his field and someone decided they should see how far they could throw spikes. About fifty were picked up from the field. Railroad paid the bill for both repairs.

 

My forage harvester has metal alert to protect it from ferrous metals and is so sensitive that a couple of years ago when the street sweeper came up the road and was losing some of his metal bristles out of his brush, I couldn't pick up the rows along the road. I didn't know there were so many rules around railroads. My anvil is made from a narrow gauge rail road that they used for logging and mining on the mountain behind my house, when they were finished they tore up the tracks and left it in piles all over the mountain. My dad collected it for use on the farm in the 50's.

Edited December 22, 2014 by 40plyrod

[Don Coatney]

Here are some interesting links.

 

http://www.railryderservices.com/used-railroad-track.html

 

http://www.ez2rail.com/relay-rail

 

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap-metal-spots/1932-train-tracks.html

 

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/railroad-track

[Ulu]

Hmmm...come to think of it I know where some abandoned mining tracks are. Leftovers from the past, but they're under snow right now.

 

I remember driving my truck along the old rail bed that ends at the Golden Spike Monument in Utah. My buddy was riding on the fender and the rails and ties were all gone but there were spikes and plates and insulators here and there and he'd jump down and pick them up. I still have a spike or two from out there on Promontory Point.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Ulu

[linus6948]

Seems to me that I have read somewhere that railroad rails make a dangerous anvil. I recall that they can shards flying as they are too hard. I don't remember the source or the specifics.

 

Jeff

That could be because of improper use Jeff, most people myself being included, don`t know you aren`t supposed to just whack an anvil`s surface with a hammer. That seems to be where the flying shards can come into play. Apparently people have been using RR track anvils since the first train rolled on a rail and doing just fine with them, I think any anvil has the potential to be misused and send metal flying.

[DonaldSmith]

I wish the cities were as stringent about recycled steel.  Areas of Detroit and other cities have been devastated by scrap thieves. They even steal the wiring from streetlights.  And occasionally someone gets zapped stealing live wire.  It seems the salvage yards are complicit in casting a blind eye to the sources of the scrap.  

 

As my grandmother used to say, "It's a sin and a shame and there ought to be a law."   

[Jeff Balazs]

Linus;

I wasn't trying to discourage your metal working. Just a word of caution. I can't remember where that info came from but it may have been the blacksmith at Mission San Juan Capistrano. I did a project with that fellow years ago. I expressed some interest in learning about the art and he loaned me some books???

I am sure you know about wearing eye protection.....so be careful and have fun.

Jeff

One of the treasures in my tool collection is a small anvil that came from a cattle ranch in Pecos Texas. It's an oldy but a goody.

[linus6948]

I do remember reading something about how the metal composition of very old rail track can be an issue if using as an anvil. I `ve also read that some people do a heat treatment process to their homemade anvils. Personally I`ve had metal removed from my eyeballs on two occasions years ago back when I was young and stupid, now I`m much older and a little smarter. Besides now I need glasses to do close up tasks, I usually have a pair hanging around my neck nowadays.

 

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?10065-Making-a-small-anvil-%28Lots-of-pictures

[Dave72dt]

My forage harvester has metal alert to protect it from ferrous metals and is so sensitive that a couple of years ago when the street sweeper came up the road and was losing some of his metal bristles out of his brush, I couldn't pick up the rows along the road.

this would have been a couple of years before metal alert was available.  Metal alert system isn't 100 % either.  We had one unit run a steel electric fence post through it.  There's about 1 1/2 inches on the very outside of the feed rolls that isn't protected and we figure the fence post went in there.  Most of the post was chopped up and the knives were totally ruined