Made a railroad spike “axe” and a terrible choice for a handle. Reviews (0) designed in the appearance of late medieval era weaponry, the double headed axe with spike is a spectacular piece of home decor. Railroad spike hatchet demonstration by bill epps. A drill bit made quick work of cleaning out the eye. Hickory blanks and dimension are manufactured and sold by charles o. New custom hand forged viking axe from high carbon steel, spike tomahawk axe, vking gift axe. By hand, by machine, by later generations of machine. History & identification of railroad spikes: He did say that he thought it was a tool for driving railroad spikes and railroad spike maul is what turned up on my google searches. You can also make wedges from them for doing things like locking an axe head on to a shaft.Īm i wrong in thinking you could make a better axe bit out of that rebar than a rail spike? Railroad spike axe (597 results) price ($) any price under $25 $25 to $50 $50 to $100 over $100 custom. Enter maximum price shipping free shipping. Today my boss gave me this railroad spike maul but he called it by a different name which i promptly forgot. Try to keep it from bending while smashing. Pricing classes shop apparel contact us open menu close menu. 中心/茎 Nakago: futsu, kuri-jiri, one mekugi-anaĪ longer video showing the forging process in real time:Ī chart comparing carbon content and maximum possible hardness is here.Vintage strap handle spike hatchet. The assembled piece compared with the original railspike. (unexpectedly the blade took a curve when quenched due to the cooling delay of the spine, which was not factored into the forging) The sunobe (blade pre-form) compared with the original size and shown with the head of the spike (right).Ĭompleted parts next to a railroad spike. The final blade dimensions are 10.75″ (274mm) long and 1 1/8″ (29mm) by just over 1/4″ (7mm) at the mune machi…point to tang tip is 15″. Railroad spikes are a good source of material for those wishing to practice and improve forging of classical tanto without wasting high carbon steel… However, as a material for a spear or sword that would excel in the bronze or early iron age, or as a tool for the forge the material is far better than mild steel or wrought iron when heat treated properly. I still do not recommend making knives from this material other than for personal use or novelty purposes. A spike heat treated in this way will still not quite pass the break test, meaning there is plenty of toughness at the full hardness. Additionally, many old koto and earlier swords have ~.4% carbon, which can be hardened to around 60HRC but does not meet the definition of “high carbon steel”…a further note, i did a quick hitatsura (no clay) differential quench on this piece and it gained a fair amount of sori (curvature), which I did not expect from this steel… Toughness?įor most applications it seems the best approach with a spike is to water quench and not temper at all, in order to stay at the maximum hardness for the carbon content. 3% carbon) Hardness?Ī railroad spike with ~.3% carbon can be hardened with a water quench to about a maximum of 55HRC, this is not as hard as most knives, however it is about an axe hardness, much harder than mild steel which maxes out around 40HRC. 6% carbon in high carbon steel (there are “higher carbon” versions of older spikes, but the official specs say they never pass. The goal of this project is to use a material you already have on hand.Ī railroad spike will never be “high carbon steel” as the accepted definition is that there is more than. However as research into the composition and characteristics of railroad spike steel it has raised some interesting points which may lead to further research into koto swords.ĭon’t mess with the railway…if you don’t already have a spike this is not the practice material for you. This project was intended as purely a forging exercise to inspire those wishing to learn hand forging of sunobe and tanto, using a readily available source of scrap steel in a conveniently sized and shaped billet (“forge 10 of these and call me in the morning”). Serious students of the forge can watch the full process version here: Hand forging a classical tanto style blade study from a reclaimed railroad spike and a tsuba from the spike head…a serious letter opener? The goal is to use all of the steel efficiently by moving it into place and end up with classical tanto proportions and form.
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