Archie Zietman Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Hello. I just had a driving lesson with my ol' gaffer, and took the opportunity to pull over by a railroad crossing near my school where, by the light of my headlamps I spied a small pile of those wotsits they stick the spikes into and put sleepers on top of. (Big rectangle of 3/4 or 1 inch thick plate with a ridge on either end and square holes for the railroad spikes) Anyhow, they have been there rusting long after all the masses of too much construction material was cleared away 2 months ago, having sat there for 2 years before anyone bothered to move/use them somewhere else, so I looked in my mirror, indicated, covered the brake, and pulled over (automatics are too easy, I prefer the family purple jeep with pink lightning bolts on the sides, it's a stickshift) Then I put the car into park, pulled up the handbrake, and nipped out and put one of them metal wotsits in the backseat, and put my foot down on the brake, put 'er into drive, looked in my mirrors, indicated and pulled out and headed home. (This whole time dad was rolling his eyes and clearly thinking "oh goodness, what's this latest symptom of the blacksmith's bug? ooh look a big chunk of metal, surprise surprise...") THE POINT of this post for those as want :-) Now I'm home safe with the railroad thing. It would probably make a good big striking surface. How d'you reckon I do this? I have a pile of spikes from Penland along the coal train route, shall I get a big lump of lumber and spike it on top? Any other ideas? Thanks, Archie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Levi Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 What I do with these is weld a car ciol spring to them(spring standing up) and set them next to my forge for tong holders. Also work that way for holding short pieces of stock. Works for me. Levi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob H. Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Way too light for an anvil. However, if I remember right, and that ain't always the case, Thomas Powers has used a rail car coupler for an anvil. Now that is a much heavier piece of steel, with a lot of mass under the striking surface. And the last time I was at the steel yard, they had a lot of cut off round stock, that would make an excellent anvil. Lot of mass under the hammer, and you don't really need that big of an area to work on. Bob Harasim Coyote Forge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakwoodforge Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 They might be too light for an anvil but good for other things, I used a couple of spikes and 2 of those plates for a quickie makeshift base for my one brick knife forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 They are called a "fish plate" and go between the rail and the sleeper (AKA RR tie). What I use fish plates for: I put them under forge/workbench/welding table legs on the ground to keep them from sinking into the dirt. I do know a smith who welded a box out of them to use as a hardy holder---Sq holes in them! as his anvil did not have one. Bob you are right I have used an apx 50# chunk of broken coupler as an improvised anvil anvil with good results. Archie it gets worse----one summer I was out of work for a month with pneumonia and as I was coming back from my every other day Dr's visit I spoted a 6# sledge on the side of the road. So I told my wife to pull over and let me go get it---took about 10 minutes to drag it back to the car and I had to rest before I could pick it up and put it inside; then I went home and slept for several hours---my HMO didn't believe in hospitalizing folks... Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodtick Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I still just use a length of rail for an anvil, and what more natural way to fasten a piece of track to a stump than a plate that fits the rail and RR spikes that fit the plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbob Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 somewhere on the web is a picture of a work table made from these plates..if you have enough and a welder you might consider a work table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbrforge Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 last night I found my self looking at news from 2004 abana conference on anvilfire saw some really good examples of railroad tie anvils, and some really bad examples too. Round my shop the plates you mentioned are used in the asphalt to keep motorcycles from sinking into the soft hot asphalt and falling over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agsolder Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 A fish plate positioned out of the way on the (dirt) floor but not too far from the forge, I have found, makes a good upsetting block for jumping longish pieces of stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 I have always found that the melting and burning, highly toxic, cresote of RR ties made for a bad anvil though I have seen some neat ones made from RR rails. Currently several of my anvils use baulks from RR bridges, bigger than ties) for stumps as big trees are not so common out here in the desert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habu68 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 1400# of fish plate make for a fine counter weight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I have one in the shop attached to the back of my leg vise stand. I cut and filed some larger square holes in the middle section, welded straight sleeves to the back of some, and welded on a pipe to use as a leg similar to the vise. This way, I have 3/4, 7/8, 1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2" square holes available for use. I use it as a hardy plate or sheet metal stake plate for shop-built stakes (no taper). I could see them being an awsome welding/acorn table if you had enough of them and a big welder. Cleaning up or adding square holes would be a great application for a die filer. I'd love to have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmonds Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 woodtick - If you or anyone else knows the link to that picture of a work table made from these plates, I would love to see it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 It is just a matter of putting several plates together in some sort of pattern 3x3, 3x4, 4x6, etc and welding them in place. A support on the underside is very important as are good stable legs. The rr spikes can than be dropped into the holes for whatever purpose you dream up. A quick cheap acorn platten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 Set a piece of RR tie on end long enough to be a comfortable working height and spike the fish plate to it for a dandy chisel plate. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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