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An idiots question about hardening


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I have a piece of RR track and a 7x 12x 1 chunk of steel. I don't have a proper anvil at this time so I was going to weld the 1 inch chunk of steel on top of the piece of track. Using the track as a base and horn. when I hit both with a cutting wheel they throw about the same amount of spark

 

( don't know what kind of steel the big chunk is) the RR track throws a little darker yellow spark. Can I bring the chunk of plate steel up to non magnetic and quench to make it a hardened top plate for the face? Or am I simply wasting my time trying to polish a xxxx?

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What about something like this?  This was my first anvil and I still use it today when I need a sharp edge.  Hindsight I should've welded the plate directly to the rail, but this has so far held up under blows from an 8 lb sledge when flattening the head of a spike that I'm making into a cross placed in the "hardy hole"

 

post-34362-0-34524400-1390498622_thumb.j

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What about something like this?  This was my first anvil and I still use it today when I need a sharp edge.  Hindsight I should've welded the plate directly to the rail, but this has so far held up under blows from an 8 lb sledge when flattening the head of a spike that I'm making into a cross placed in the "hardy hole"

 

attachicon.gifRR track anvil.jpg

WOW! that's a confabulation if I have ever seen one. But hey if it works.....

 

Cut a piece off of that steel and see if it will harden and how.

think this is a ( why didn't I think of that? situation) going to hack off a piece this evening.

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Just use the "stump" anvil. Horns are latecomers to the craft you don't need one for most any operation. AND that gear has a nice shaft if you need to true something up.

 

Of course you can try what you propose but all in all you'll be better served learning to forge on what you have. It isn't the tools that do the work, it's the smith. You don't even need a flat surface, I don't know how long it was done but many Viking blades were forged on boulders and I'd be willing to bet using cobbles for hammers.

 

Build your skills sets and you'll find it doesn't make a lot of difference what you use for an anvil, hammer, cut, etc.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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