Hardness of railroad rail

[Mike Hall]

Does anyone know what the hardness of railroad rail might be? I know people have used it for anvils, but could it be machined into a hammer as well?

[ThomasPowers]

RR rail is generally a work hardening alloy to that the hardness could be affected by how many tonnes has been rolled over it,

Now even at it's hardness a good stout mill using carbide can machine it as while they like hardness for abrasion resistance they DON'T want brittleness.

Now if the question really is "Is RR rail a good alloy for hammer making?" the answer is Yes. I would definitely start by annealing it though and re-harden in oil and draw temper after it's been worked into the hammer head.

[Mike Hall]

I'm new to metal work. Can you explain what you mean about annealing, hardening and draw tempering? I found a 42" piece of 100lb rail.

Thanks,
Mike

[mudbugone]

There is always an interest in Railroad Rail composition,sizes,weights.... Quite by accident I stumbled across this http://www.icrr.net/rails.htm If any moderators see this and there is a more appropriate location for these charts feel free to move or add this link to a place others here can access for informational purposes...

I thought it was pretty good info and worth sharing

Dave

[ThomasPowers]

May I suggest you visit your local public library and ILL one of the basic blacksmithing books and read their description of basic heat treating steps rather than have us type it in second hand?

Pretty much any of the knifemaking books will cover it as well; probably a heat treating sticky in the knife section of this site too.

It's generally lumped with knifemaking as that's the subset of smithing most involved with working high carbon steels and the various steps of heat treating are most important there.