47 replies to this topic

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I hope that you priced your product using new spikes, as scrap $$$$ are variable, as well as supply. You may need to buy new at times. Our copper chips were bringing close to $4 a pound, dropped to $.99 then back up to $2.50, all this over 2 years. Steel has been all over too. but not nearly as bad.

[Francis Trez Cole]

www.harmersteel.com is a good source for railroad spikes.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

these are pretty cheap @.33$ ea.

http://mohave.craigs...1634784805.html



NEW 6" TRACK SPIKE .33 CENTS EACH, OR $80.33 PER KEG (241 SPIKES). CELL 928-542-9416.

* Location: FORT MOHAVE,AZ


image 1634784805-0

[shop]

We have about 6 55 gal drums we would like to get rid of at a good price

[edge9001]

Larzz, on 14 March 2010 - 02:26 PM, said:

If there are any scrap yards, steel recyclers or smelters in your area you could try checking with them. They will buy scrap in BIG lots and may let you but/have some. You might bring in a couple of railroad spike business card holders to show them some of the things you are going to make and just "happen" to leave them there.

you wouln't happen to have a picture of the affore mentioned card holder do you? lol that seems likr a good project I can work on to learn more.

[Countryboy39067]

Always check eBay or craigslist... Places like that. There is a seller on eBay every once in awhile selling 25 hc stamped rr spikes. This is the best deal I found tonight. Good luck!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/...ZQQcmdZViewItem

[sheridan]

Just walk the tracks (get permission first). That is what I do, but where i live everyone pretty much consider the RRs free game as they are not in use anymore. The farmers dont mind you looking for junk in the fields.

[thingmaker3]

http://www.bhamrail....pikerequest.asp

[Larzz]

edge9001, on 17 June 2010 - 07:49 PM, said:

you wouln't happen to have a picture of the affore mentioned card holder do you? lol that seems likr a good project I can work on to learn more.

I think there was one in the blueprints. Dancing Frog Forge has one. His is one of the better designs.

[don't tread on me]

I jest wlk the tracks and have never been stopped and a friend of mine asked a RR guy and he sead it was ok. I like those big bolts, they are jest the right size for hardy hole tools.

[Dragons lair]

sheridan, on 20 June 2010 - 12:25 AM, said:

Just walk the tracks (get permission first). That is what I do, but where i live everyone pretty much consider the RRs free game as they are not in use anymore. The farmers dont mind you looking for junk in the fields.

Who ya getting permission from? The RR still owns the tracks and right of way on unused sections.

[Dragons lair]

don't tread on me, on 20 June 2010 - 09:42 PM, said:

I jest wlk the tracks and have never been stopped and a friend of mine asked a RR guy and he sead it was ok. I like those big bolts, they are jest the right size for hardy hole tools.

Have a care my friend. "asked a RR guy" I have a RR guy for a nextdoor neighbor he has to go to the office for an OK to bring me spikes. Any old RR guy may not have the horsepower.
Ken.

[Phil Krankowski]

The track next to my brother's house is being repaired, many many new ties are stacked up. I asked his teenage daughters to see what they could do by simply asking. My brother halfway expects a 5 gallon bucket of old spikes for me next time I visit.

Phil

[ironbudd]

http://www.mcmaster....-spikes/=7y83pw

[Winston]

I forgot about this thread. Well I got all the spikes I want legal and free. At least up to now they have been free. I had no luck with the rail road companies around here. I even tried some local offices of companies who contract with the RR with no luck. They all ended up being giant corporations that would not even bother with me. Finding spikes at a scrap yard anywhere close to local has proven impossible. What I found was a local company who specializes in private railroad construction. They do not work for big RR lines, they construct/repair rail only on industrial sites like steel mills and quarries. They had plenty of spikes laying around the office yard that they sell for scrap every so often. The owner was a really nice guy who just let me have as many as I want. He even already had them in the metal buckets. I also got several peices of scrap rail. He has the proper documentation to sell RR scrap, and I can send anyone his way if the question where I got anything.

While I am sure that not everyone who owns a similar company would let you have spikes (or rail) for free, I would think that this would be a resource that could be found around most large industrial cities.

[Zsartell]

I buy mine for $.20 a piece from the railroad, you jsut have to be really nice to them. Get out the phonebook and start calling around, you'll find the right person sooner or later. I go through a couple hundred a month. Most of you have probably seen my bottle opener spikes on the internet if you've ever done a search for one.

[anvillain]

If you need hundreds or thousands, you could buy some 5/8" square hot rolled steel. It will forge better, and you can forge your own spike head and draw down the point. But then, most people promptly have to forge the head into something else or it will just look like a doggone RR spike. It won't be illegal to make your own spike.....or maybe it would. To me the best use for a RR spike is to hold down tracks.

Anvillain

[Julius]

Check your local swapmeet. I picked some up this weekend for a quarter each

[ofafeather]

Buy a few shares in railroad stock then when you call the company as a stockholder you can tell them, as a part owner, you would some of their scrap. Probably wouldn't work but sounds like fun anyway. Just thought of it cause I own a few shares of NSC.

[JohnHenry5]

Here is a reliable seller of Railroad Spikes, whom seems to be affiliated with a re-use art group out of the Florida Keys. He ships 20 spikes for $20 included shipping. http://www.etsy.com/...railroad-spikes

Hope This Helps,
john