Hi Hillbillysmith. Some touch-up with a stick welder really helps out that RR track for use as an anvil. I have found that those track plates do not really have useful holes, since they are kind of the wrong size and are in the wrong places. I tried to cut a 1" hole in one, but it was a Pyhrric victory. Too difficult for the gain. Much better to go for Mike-HR's portable hardy hole design (given in the BP's). You are handy with a welder, and that is a great application. The main weakness of a RR track anvil is that the edges are not very useful. There is too little support by the relatively thin web. There are two ways to work around this problem. One was given above by acoop101. Bolster the sides or weld two rails together side by side. Another is to use the vertical rail idea. This really improves the edge rigidity, since the foot or web is used as the edge, and it is supported all the way down to the ground.
There is some guy who shows up at blacksmithing conferences who pieces anvils together with junk steel and an arc welder. It does work. If you don't use the edge of the anvil, I guess that it does not matter that much.  |