Grafvitnir Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 My only anvil is a striking anvil like Brian Brazeal's and for a while I've been needing something like a horn for shaping various projects. I was walking through the place where I buy scrap when I saw a piece of rail that had been roughly flamecut freehand so I got it for free and used it to see the feasabilty of making a bickern out of a better piece of rail. I forged the rail part as a squarish taper to insert in the "hardy" semi-hole (it is still almost round) and then taper to round one of the sides of the "foot" of the rail (I don't know how to call that part). I don't know if it is better to leave it as forged or do some HT to it. Almost all my tools for hot work are left without HT. I just finished it so have not tried it yet. Maybe next weekend... :rolleyes: Thanks for watching and for your comments if any. Rubén Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Excellent use of railroad rail! Did you do much grinding on it or is this purely forged? Great work, might have to go and make one myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grafvitnir Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 It is purely forged with a little hot rasping to finish it. (although I should had rasped it better than I did ;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 I agree very innovative, looks like it might make for a nice chipping hammer in a pinch as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pug}{maN Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 very cool man ! grate job ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 How long did it take you to forge down the thick head on the rail? This is a very interesting project, and I may have to steal borrow it from you some day and make my own! ^_^ Also, I have found that even short sections are cumbersome to hold, did you use tongs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Great use of a scrap "preform"! My suggestion would be to work the stem a bit more to have a stop to rest on top of the hardy hole. With your striking anvil you won't have any issues; but in another anvil the wedging action could result in cracking a fragile heel. Also clean up the end opposite the bic as you may find yourself using it even more than the bic end when doing forks and other work traditionally done on the heel of the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 That is, I think, the first time I've ever seen someone make a track anvil that I actually liked! Wonderful application of the hammer. I can see me using this idea if I ever run into a small section of rail. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grafvitnir Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Sorry, just got home from work. I first tried forging the head of the rail with my hand hammer and realized it would be hard but possible. Some friends were here Sunday morning so I asked one of them to hold it in my tongs while I struck with a 10lb sledge. It took 4-5 heats and an additional heat with my hand hammer for breaking in the corners. The picture shows the tongs I used (found them in something like a flea market) for forging that part. If I had a better anvil ;) with a square hardy hole I'll then proceed to upset the rest of the stem into a shoulder to try to avoid the wedging when using it. Then I forged the bick end to square, octagon, roundish and finish with hot rasping. That was made with my hand hammer, maybe 4 heats plus an additional one for rasping. I didn´t even touched the other side because I felt that side may get more use and wanted to think first what to do to it (just sand it or radius some corners and leave others sharp to use as the "new corners" tool Brian uses or whatever). On the other picture you can see the awful surface result from the rough flamecut. That's why this was like an experiment to see what was feasable, but maybe now is a keeper :) Thank you for your comments, again. Rubén Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Great idea, thank you for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Isn't it great when that oddball set of tongs you picked up just for spec turns out to be *perfect* for a job you need to do. However I noticed a bad practice in your method---you should have your friends using the 10' sledge while you hold and direct the striking! (I know; they probably strike like lightening---never hit the same place twice...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grafvitnir Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 Hahaha... I tried that first but besides striking like lightning... let's say they didn't strike with enough confidence. So I had to direct with the sledge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I understand that for sure, I have a number of friends you need a sledge hammer to direct. Nice stake anvil for sure. I'm a big proponent of using RR rail for things like this. I had a snarling iron I made to form and slit a "Salamander" main tube some years ago. It's long gone but it was a one trick pony. The one thing I'd try differently is the form of the shank. I think I'd try folding the flanges, first against the web to fit the hardy hole snugly and then fold the tag ends back out 90* to act as a shoulder on the anvil face. If there was a little gap between the folded flange and the web it'd make the stake easy to remove from the anvil, just squeeze the flanged a little and out she'd come. Anyway, nice job, well done. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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