I was thinking in geometry class today and came up with the idea to take a cross section of some rail I have lying around and forge a hatchet/ belt axe.
The idea is that I forge weld together the bottom flange and form the handle, then bend the inner web to 90 degrees and flatten the back to form a flush hammer head on the spine, then widen the top rail and forge in the bevels. What do you all think?

Thanks much,
kyle

Sounds ambitious! Would love to see pics.

i dont really follow that. you lost me with bend the inner web to 90 deg and flatten the back.

Be sure to post pics of that one.

I was thinking in geometry class today and came up with the idea to take a cross section of some rail I have lying around and forge a hatchet/ belt axe.
The idea is that I forge weld together the bottom flange and form the handle, then bend the inner web to 90 degrees and flatten the back to form a flush hammer head on the spine, then widen the top rail and forge in the bevels. What do you all think?

Thanks much,
kyle

Made me think of Mark Aspery and his blacksmith Tae kwon do... I took a class from him and during he demonstrated in perfect form... Hold your hands up in a classic martial arts stance... then start pretending to follow the bending and manipulation .. If I bend here than that will have to go over, then pull this back.. then draw this out and fold over here..... Pretty soon you'll look like a Blacksmith Tae Kwon Do master!

have you thought about working in plasticine/oil based modeling clay? you can form your starting object from clay, then manipulate it with your hammers and anvil... see if it will work, before you put the work into iron.. I have done it a couple of times... it showed me the errors of my thought process ...

sounds ambitious... please post pics...!
Cliff

Hope you're young and have a lot of stamina! That's gonna take a lot of pounding. Good luck and, yeah, post some pix. :D

Sure it should work and be a decent alloy for one too. Might make a great "art" hatchet or axe.

I assume that you are good at forge welding?

If you can get a slice custom cut you may want to have it so the base is a bit wider---easier to make a good eye from, then curve in to make the web section almost square---less hammering to get to twisting cross section. Lastly give a bit more on the top to have more steel to forge into the blade.

I worked up a piece of rail just last week for a cutler anvil, width of the track square to fit my hardie hole. This stuff is tough. It's a slick idea and only your imagination will stop it. Think I might find a potential friend with a power hammer for future projects. Good luck. Humphry

I'm sure it can be done the way you describe Kyle though it's not the way I'd do it.

I'd take one of two basic approaches.

#1 cut the web or flange to use as HC bit inserts in a mild steel body.

#2, now that I have a power hammer cut the rail free of the web and to length and use it as stock to forge a hatchet or axe. I wouldn't leave much of it's original shape as a signiture though so maybe not so interesting a finished product.

RR rail is high quality 1080-95 steel and I've used bits of flange or web as blade stock with good results. Blades for wood working mostly with limited chance of impact.

Frosty

Yeah wrestling should help with the stamina part. I only recently got into blacksmithing and actually have zero experience in forge welding but I plan to fix that tonight. Thanks to the "old way to split rail road rail" thread I have plenty of rail to try. I was thinking of a way to make just the head but I figured for now I'll try to go with the all metal handle for now and try just the head later. Thanks a bunch for all the replies.

Kyle

Well not quite 1095

I am citing the Arema (The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association) 2007 document, Part 2 "manufacture of Rail"

Standard rail steel:
.74 to.86% Carbon,
.75 to 1.25% Manganese,
.10 to .60% Silicon
Minimum Brinell (of unhardened surface) 310 or 370 dependant of grade ordered.

Low Alloy Rail Steel
.72 to .82% Carbon,
.80 to 1.10% Manganese,
.25 to .40& Chromium,
.10 to .50% Silicon


British rail details can be found at: Institute of Rail Welding - Job Knowledge 4. Metallurgy of Rail Steels

Just one question, why were you thinking in geometry class? You know that ain't allowed.
I have made a hardy tool or two out of small slices of track and they worked pretty well. Wonder what ever happened to them, there not in the box now. Good luck with your project, post pictures.

Just one question, why were you thinking in geometry class? You know that ain't allowed.
I have made a hardy tool or two out of small slices of track and they worked pretty well. Wonder what ever happened to them, there not in the box now. Good luck with your project, post pictures.

Hey I am trying to make a few hardies out of track, if you have any tips or pics... could you help a poor newbie out? haha sorry if this is off topic.

"Sounds ambitious" seems to be the general consensus; I'll have to agree with that. It'll be hard, but worth it. Regardless of whether it comes out to the form you want or not, the experience alone justifies the hard work. Not everything works out, but hey, at least you know what NOT to do next time (speaking from experience ).

Roll with it.