vanhammer

Thanks a lot guys! I left the top bare but will coat it with oil. The sides are all black now. I do like the pinstriping idea ha ha. Anyway, the other question I havent seen a repsponse to yet... Will working a piece of 300 series stainless steel on a (i assume) high carbon steel anvil cause the 300 stainless to get rust spots over time?

Hey guys, this is my first post. Unfortunately it has to do with what seems to be the dreaded "to paint or not to paint" question, but I didnt see my exact question on any of the topics I searched through first. Anyway, here is the scenario... I am not a blacksmith and am only intending to dabble in it very slightly at this time. I am however interested in fabricating some parts for some old cars I am restoring and I also am finding myself becoming interested in knifemaking. Anyway, I found an article about making an anvil out of a piece of railroad track and it just so happened that my Dad had a piece that someone had already cut to shape (how lucky can ya get right?). This piece of train track is very rusty however, so I was going to glass bead it and paint it with some high heat primer and paint OR oil it with some marval mystery oil after blasting. Keep in mind, that I dont really care about any sort of "value" of this particular anvil and I highly doubt it would be worth anything anyway. The value thing seems to be what is popping up in the forums about whether to paint one or not, but I am just concerned about the usefulness of the anvil. My questions are this: If I paint this anvil, is there any sort of the possibility of the paint "impregnating" the mild sheet steel that I will be hammering on it and affect any sort of paint job I plan to do to the sheet steel? And the same question as far as oiling it? If I am using any sort of 300 series stainless, would paint or oil be better for not hammering in some of the deposits of the steel of the train track anvil? And on another note and I didnt search for this in the forums yet because I just thought of it... Does anyone have any good tips on making a railroad track anvil? I havent finished the article yet either to see if this question is in it, but should any part of this anvil be hardened or tempered (I assume not but it seems like it could be useful)? Obviously I know just enough about this stuff to make a mess ha ha. Any advice is appreciated and thanks in advance for the help. Thanks.