Amoroso 82

Has any one ever made any tools like an axe from a piece of Railroad track, I need a squaring axe and I have alot of pieces of Railroad track as a matter of fact I have a pile of Railroad metal including spikes tie plates and track, I have discoverd that spikes made after 1970 something are considered by the Railroad to be high carbon and accually say "HC"on the head and they say that these are equal to 1040 steel but I cant find any info on the track, it is probably use hardend but is it suitable for an axe. Amoroso82

Hello: I am amoroso82 and I am new to the world of blacksmithing, I am a cabinet maker specializing in hand made cabinets using mostly hand tools, My occupation is historical preservation, I am intrested in blacksmithing to make my own hinges, door and drawer pulls and other hardware, People really like those types of things and will pay a premium for them, so I will read every thing posted and will ask many questions. I am not going into this cold, I have read several books on the subject and have found an anvil and a rather bulky piece of rail road track as I have access to many pieces of the railroad. There is a switching yard near me and I have permission to help my self to anything in the scrap pile, that includes bolts tie plates track and these strange looking clips and a pile of spikes taller than me, I figure that even if these parts are low carbon then I still can make cabinet hardware from it. I will need to know if this is feesable as I have read in some sites that rail road steel is not good for anything. I live in Cheyenne Wyoming with my wife, I am 52 years old and in good health, and I have been a carpenter since 1969. I have always purchaced my rose head nails and hand made hardware so now as I said before I want to make my own. amoroso82