I like that idea Daswulf. Another would be to weld the spikes together with filler stock in the middle to make up the width, heads on the outsides. Then wood or metal slats over them to make up the seat & back. The RR spikes would be spaced evenly running top to bottom on the back and front to back on the seat.

Could use RR rail vertically for the legs, make it heavy enough so it would be hard to cart off.

Edited July 20, 20196 yr by Irondragon Forge & Clay
add thought on legs

Hmm.. Aus, have you messed with resin? For the wood for the seat backs you could router out a name or something and set it with spikes then resin them in. 

Hmmm. I'll do a few test welds to see what is best. Das, I did think of doing the seat part out of wood, but I think the railway boys wanted it all-spikes!

As long as it isn't in direct sunlight it would be fine, but have you ever touched a piece of metal that has been in the sun for some hours? 

Well, if it were All spikes, laying them out sideways for the bench and back part and a lot of grinding of the sides of the heads would make it comfortable enough. Or the idea with all the heads up. (That would be a Lot of spikes.)

My thought was to use the head of the rr spikes as a carriage bolt to hold the wood slats to the frame. The other end of the spike would be a forged and threaded tenon. If they dont want wood, then perhaps this could be used as a rr spike headed rivit for other joinery.

I have some ideas for the frame, but am sitting in a coffee shop so i cant draw it. I dont know if my words will work, but heres the general idea. Make the arms and upper back of 2 long pieces say 6" apart. Join them with "short pickets" made from rr spikes. The head goes outboard and the other end is a shouldered tenon. Peen this end like a rivit head. This keeps sharp ends outboard and accents the rr head. I did a piece like this once. The front legs, arms, back riser, and top of the back rest were one piece.

Its always fun to take someones idea and play with it.

Have fun

This is a tough one Aus, do they want it made entirely from spikes or can you get away with using spikes as a prominent element? 

If as an element I like Anvil's idea of using spike heads like carriage bolts or perhaps wedged tenons to secure wood. Spikes can be forge welded to make the frame and say magazine racks or side shelves on the arms. 

Personally I'd sneak in 5/8" HR, sq stock for the less visible areas to avoid large quantities of forge welding to turn spikes into lengths of bar stock and this is going to be a must for an all steel bench.  

Were I doing an all RR spike bench I'd be welding spikes point to head production line fashion, flattening the heads sideways and drawing the shanks into strap stock. Hopefully it'd provide stock what, 1/4" thick and about 1" wide with a prominent representation of the spike head every 8" or so. 

I'd use a torch to heat the welds and gently forge weld and refine them to maintain the shape of the spike heads and emphasize the point as forged to the  back of the heads. flattening the heads and drawing laterally would be a job for the power hammer and kiss blocks so my forge would get a solid work out once it was welded into bars.

After than it'd be joinery and forming into a bench seat curves. The legs, frame, etc. would be from the unflattened bar stock with mortise and piened or wedged tenons as appropriate. There would be plenty of opportunity to use whole spikes: scrolled, twisted, stretched and just displayed in the: legs, feet, arms, behind the back rest, perhaps a shelf under the seat so travelers could set things down without laying them in the dirt or wet. This option would help keep them as forgotten so they could pick them from lost and found unsoiled. 

What a project, I HOPE you're charging them appropriately, my shop rate would've made just welding up the spikes into usable stock darned expensive.

You'd darned well better post pics start to finish if you take on this commission! We LOVE pics you know. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I am imagining something like that throne from that show "Game of Thrones". I would find a pick but i am not sure about copyrights and such on it. 

Billy, don't know if you've seen this one from Andrew aka, Scrapartoz. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/39245-game-of-thrones-scrap-metal-homage/

Pretty impressive build but I believe Aus may be going for an actual park style bench. Then again you never know what an idea might end up like. Ausfire does have a great imagination. 

 

That is pretty cool. 

 

Aus, what kind of material are they giving you, just spikes?

If you could get some rail, and ties you could do some very interesting benches.

First thought was similar to JHCC's, heads up. But maybe driven through a wood seating area. That is where the tie would come in. Maybe split in half for the seat , and back. Here they creosoted the ties, do they do that in OZ too? And what wood, eucalyptus, jarra?

Sorry guys; I seem to have missed quite a few replies here. I do appreciate the suggestions offered.

The seat is to be built mainly out of spikes, but not exclusively. It is to b placed on the railway platform, so spikes should feature prominently in the design. There is no reason I couldn't add some fish bolts or sleeper clips or other railway associated scrap.

I have already started on the sides, made by welding rail spikes together. They are awkward things to weld as there is not much surface area between the domed heads. I'm using a lot of triangulation for stability. For comfort sake, I'm making the seat part from timber. Sleeper timber was too thick and out of proportion, so just 50mm water gum slabs. I like BGD's idea of driving a few through the timber so the heads are showing. I have a long leaf spring across the back and some scrap rebar for supports. At the moment, I'm thinking it looks butt ugly, but we'll see how it develops. I won't post any pics until it's complete.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Use spikes to rivet the boards to the frame alone the board ends.

OK, so the rail spike chair is now complete. It comprises exactly 100 spikes. Since it will be installed on a railway platform, I have branded the station name on the backrest. Probably not the prettiest of park benches, but certainly solid, surprisingly comfortable … and eminently suitable for a railway platform. Now my wife wants one as a garden seat.

 

That is really, really cool. Excellent work!

Looks great Ausfire, even better in the FC/ FE?

 

Thanks Dasher, but I'll give you one more guess. Not FC or FE or even FB - one year later.

And thanks, JHCC. A compliment from you is highly valued!

Aus, That turned out great! Nice that you added the name on it. The springs look perfect for the top and arm rests. It looks comfortable.

Now you'll be busy making another for home. 

2 hours ago, ausfire said:

Now my wife wants one as a garden seat.

LOL, That's what ya get for doing such a great job.

Very nice! And especially nice to have been involved from the beginning! Thanks.

Looks good Aus. One for the garden too eh? Well, you know the reward for a job well done is more jobs.

Frosty The Lucky.

Man, I had an EK when I was younger, all of them having the same tail lights is what put me into guessing mode.

Dasher: Yes, you would have got it straight away from the front view. It is very similar to an FB Holden though - just a few cosmetic differences around the grille and bonnet emblem.  The EK has been in the family since bought new in Cairns in1962. It earns its keep too, carting steel, bags of charcoal and assorted blacksmith supplies from time to time. It delivered the rail spike seat today.

A while back, I got paid to break a rail spike in half to simulate fracture failure. Had to keep the spike straight through the process. After scoring on 4 sides, took about 40 minutes of strike, turn, strike, turn...... with a two pound hammer. Interesting to look at......

Robert Taylor

Good example of tough rather than hard and why alloys need to be chosen for their use.  (ie "High Carbon" is not always a better alloy than medium or low carbon; it depends on what it needs to do.)

Not pretty, but pretty useful...tongs from spikes are plenty doable...