building a Railroad Anvil

[Candidquality]

thought i'd get some community involvement in putting this little project together. I found this



sitting on a shelf at my day job and found out it was free for the asking.



So with my good luck in tow I decided to clean it up a bit and ask for suggestions.

after a bit of sandblasting this is what I have now.



another view with the uneven grinding of it's "horn"




with the numbers



you can see the flat spot that's been ground along the top on this picture.



I'll put this into a blueprint when complete but I would really like suggestions to make this the best possible.

it's right at 10 inches long 6 and a half inches on top ground flat. horn is ground lop sided at the moment.

I have access to a lot of good equipment at work though i've never run the plasma cutter. I'm wondering a few things like :

1. should i even bother welding a piece of steel to the face. I have scrap H-13 available and something called "luster die" which i know little about. supposed to be a pre-hard steel but that's about all I can find out about it.

2. If not the above material then what would be worth buying to make it work(cheap) and what would be most costly usefull material for a hardened face?

3. If I don't weld a piece to the flat face then should I heat and sink the horn edge to create a step or offset?

4. it makes sense to me to not remove any more material than necessary as mass is going to be an issue with this small a piece of track. is there a reason to give this the london profile or should I just cut a relief under the horn for bends.

Now that all that is said. I know it should be keep it simple stupid. but i'm not out any materials at this point and i think it could be a really handy light anvil. And i'm more for one who does it right the first time.

And again I will keep anyone interested posted with pictures and eventually a blueprint will folllow. Higher res pictures can be sent if needed. I resized these to 15% to get them to fit the best for this website.

[scrapman1077]

If you have the time, do it right. Check out this one I found on ebay http://search.ebay.com//search/searc...acksmith+track

[Candidquality]

nothing but time at the moment. thanks. saved the pictures of that one. will make a nice model to follow. though the one I have is already too short for that. Would have to add some material and attach for the horn. wonder how i might do that. and what would be the material to use?

[meco3hp]

find some more chunks of RR rail to add to this one. I've found some thats only an inch or two long where they trimed them off of a rail to make it fit. I grab them any time I see them.

[Candidquality]

sounds like a plan. so say I get another piece of track that's about 8 inches for the horn and 6 inches for the other end. what would be the best way to attach them? just weld them up with 7018? and then what about the face? i've read about using 7018 as a backer then a hard facing on top. just being carefull not to leave any pits. an if I'm going to the trouble to add a horn and heel what about a small piece of plate on each side to connect from under the top to the bottom pedistal? and should that be straight? or angle it to meet the top and bottom at their respective edges?

btw looking at that e-bay link I notice the top (about the 8th picture) is not slight wear but almost chewn up. think they didn't bother hardening it? or is the native metal so soft that this is a problem and you really need to add some steel to hammer on?

[Glenn]

Best forging use I have found for a RR track is to stand about 3-4 feet (or more) of it on end and have the mass of the metal under the impact area. 3-4 feet weighs in at something close to 100 poounds depending on the size of the track.

If you spam that 3-4 feet the middle becomes real limper under a hammer. But for a small desk top anvil RR track will do a lot of work.





Sometimes it is better to start with a flat top to begin with rather than weld up something. :wink:

[Strine]

The numbers remind me of the piece of track an uncle cut up when we called in on our honeymoon. He thought it a good idea to put our wedding day on the web with the welder. Boy was he right....it has saved me many a time from a hail of abuse and restriction of supply. That was twenty five years ago last November.

[Candidquality]

true Glenn, a flat peice to start with is a good idea. This small piece I have now only weighs 39#. so 3 feet would be about 120#. I'll keep my eye out for a larger piece for the stand on end idea.
Looks like that piece you have has never been used, was it just cleaned up and put away or used for pretty light work?

Strine, never a bad idea to have that date engraved on your forehead or anywhere convenient. two dates I never forget are the birthday or anniversary. now independance day on the other hand :? you have to prioritize what goes into that brain of yours ya know. :wink:

So is this piece of track going to stand up to some abuse as it's ground(possibly work hardening?) or is it worth adding a steel plate(of some variety) to the top. I know more weight is never a bad thing as long as you can carry it when needed.

With the blue lines being the new steel and green being welds. Is this a good idea to re-inforce the top and make this a more sound anvil?

[Candidquality]

If I do wind up adding a piece of steel to the top without adding anything to the ends it might look something like this.

[Glenn]

If the "I" beam anvil is 6" wide and 1" thick plate top and bottom and as I recall maybe 24" long it weighs in at over 70#. I do know it was heavy stuff and may have been larger than the dimentions I used. If you look for any longish piece of RR track, don't turn down the 20 foot section. You just bury it 17-1/2 feet into the ground and it will make a wonderful heavy anvil

Contact Old Moose or Honest Bob, both deal in anvils and are on this forum. Bill Epps or Tom Stovall from Tx may have a handle on an anvil. And don't forget the Farriers anvils are still anvils, they just look funny cause they are designed for making horse shoes.

There are too many used anvils available to spend much time fussing with RR track. Buy a drop from a steel yard of 4 inch plate that is 12" by 12" and you have a 160 pound anvil to beat on for junk prices.

. .
Pictured is a 4" x 18" section of round bar that weighs 75# on top of a 100# Peter Wright. It is as long as the anvil, has a wider face, a 4" round horn and is easier to move. Cost = $0.00

This is not to talk you out of your RR anvil. Use it and learn how to use it to it's full advantage. But don't spend too much time and effort on trying to make it work like the real thing. Start looking for a real anvil, ask everyone you see if they know where an anvil is located and chase down the lead. Chances are there may be a second anvil over behind a door in the same shop. Or they may know where an anvil is located. The local blacksmithing organizations can help locate an anvil for you also.