SkoobyNewb Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 Does anybody know what type of steel railroad tie plates are made of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkoobyNewb Posted November 12, 2016 Author Share Posted November 12, 2016 Through my research, Ive found that it's most likely 1050. And to be honest Im still new enough at all this to not really know if that's good or not. I know it won't be as hard as good knife steel like 1080 or 1095; but would it still be decent steel to work with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 2 hours ago, SkoobyNewb said: but would it still be decent steel to work with? Key question: decent for what? Knifemaking? Decorative railings? Guillotine tools? Nails? (Probably not nails.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 If it is 1050 that would be a very useful steel, but getting it into a form that you can make something out of will be a little difficult unless you have a power hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 Where did you come by the 1050 spec for tie plates? That sounds pretty rich for the use but I don't have the specs handy. I believe Thomas has several sites for RR steel specs. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkoobyNewb Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 On 11/11/2016 at 10:06 PM, JHCC said: Key question: decent for what? Knifemaking? Decorative railings? Guillotine tools? Nails? (Probably not nails.) Anything really, most likely knife making or something decorative I could use as a Christmas gift . On 11/12/2016 at 1:15 AM, Frosty said: Where did you come by the 1050 spec for tie plates? That sounds pretty rich for the use but I don't have the specs handy. I believe Thomas has several sites for RR steel specs. Frosty The Lucky. With looking at several different forums and sites the only one I heard quoted was 1050 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 1 hour ago, SkoobyNewb said: With looking at several different forums and sites the only one I heard quoted was 1050 BP0011 - Common Railroad Steels says that a grade 1 tie plate has 0.15% C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkoobyNewb Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 1 hour ago, JHCC said: BP0011 - Common Railroad Steels says that a grade 1 tie plate has 0.15% C. Thanks, Im wondering where the others got their info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 The thing is (and I am speaking from experience here), unless you have a pretty powerful forge and a power hammer, tie plates are simply too thick and unwieldy for most forging. Cutting them down mechanically to manageable sizes can take a lot of time and consumables that are much better used for other purposes. The things that I have personally found tie plates most useful for have been welding projects that take advantage of their size, shape, and mass. You're going to do much better and get faster, more satisfactory results by starting with stock that is a lot closer to your desired end product. There are many, many decorative projects that can be made from, for example, railroad spikes (there is a whole thread on IFI that's devoted to such) or similarly sized stock. As for knifemaking, you will do much, much better to work with known steels whose chemical compositions and heat treating procedures are well known. There are places where you can order knifemaking steel online; see elsewhere on the forum for more information. If you insist on using scrap, buy yourself some insurance by using steel with a much higher likelihood of being suitable for knives: springs, lawnmower blades, old files and rasps, etc. As with all mystery steel, though, be prepared for heat treatment to be a crap shoot. With old springs in particular, be aware that there may be hidden stress cracks that might not reveal themselves until your knife is practically finished. Save yourself the heartbreak, and use new stock. But do hang onto that tie plate. I'm sure it will come in handy sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 By the way, where are you in New Hampshire? And have you linked up with the New England ABANA affiliate yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkoobyNewb Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 3 hours ago, JHCC said: By the way, where are you in New Hampshire? And have you linked up with the New England ABANA affiliate yet? I haven't yet, my father has though; he goes to the open forges they host. I've gotten alot of tips from him. Unfortunately for me, those events are on a day i work, so I haven't had the chance . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Thanks JHCC; I was wondering too but can't seem to find my copy of the RR steel folder. I would have checked one with a quench test; but probably not till this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 I incorporated some pieces of tie plate into my anvil stand, and I have another tooling project in the works that centers on some welded-up chunks. I'll be posting pics if it goes well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Did you have to preheat and post heat the welds to prevent HAZ cracking like a higher carbon steel or did they work fine as they were (like a low carbon steel)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 3 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Did you have to preheat and post heat the welds to prevent HAZ cracking like a higher carbon steel or did they work fine as they were (like a low carbon steel)? They worked fine. Of course, I'm a pretty crappy welder, so it would be kind of hard to tell anyway.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 The proof of the pudding is in the eating. If you are not getting HAZ cracking with low grade welding you are welding low carbon. I myself am much better welding with the forge than with the arc welder. I try to have a couple of personal projects to "relearn" on before working on a project for a customer and NEVER DO CRITICAL WELDING! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Addendum: I did some welding today of on a new project (which I'll put in a separate post once I take some good photos) that incorporated parts of two different tie plates, one much older than the other. I haven't done any lab testing, but they sparked very differently: the older one had fewer streams with fewer bursts, but clearly steel and not WI. Lots of sparks with the newer one. Everything welded up beautifully, though, with no cracking in the HAZ. I seem getting better at MIG, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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