August 25, 20196 yr I have this handled chisel, and as the title says I'm unsure if it's a hot cut or some sort of masonry chisel? Or perhaps even a woodworking item?
August 25, 20196 yr Mr. sm - sl, Let me hazard a guess. Your tool looks like a "mill bill". They were tools in the nineteenth century, (and earlier) that were used for dressing mill stones. (that ground grain). SLAG.
August 25, 20196 yr There's a tool similar to that for cutting RR track cold. There was recently a picture posted in the it followed me home thread with a tape measure next to it. Your tool appears to be about two inches shorter but You can compare it to that picture and see what you think. Pnut
August 25, 20196 yr Wood Working Tool???? Definitely not. Only thing about it connected to wood working is the handle.
August 25, 20196 yr Mr. Pnut. Good guess. I think that you are right. Check this tool out at, https://www.aldonco.com/store/p/356-Track-Chisel.aspx SLAG.
August 25, 20196 yr 17 minutes ago, Chris The Curious said: Wood Working Tool???? Definitely not. Even sharp? Think of a carved hope chest to hold the Bentley you're giving your daughter on her sweet 16th. Use your imagination man! Frosty The Lucky.
August 25, 20196 yr Even sharp! My daughter is 47 years old and she not has never had a Bently, she ain't-a-gonna get one!
August 25, 20196 yr CtC; remember she will be picking out your nursing home someday! Perhaps my daughters can send her some brochures from "Fast Turn Around Acres".
August 25, 20196 yr 26 minutes ago, Chris The Curious said: and she not has never had a Bently, Brother you just rain typos when you're laughing. I don't even know where to start on such a target rich sentence. Frosty The Lucky.
August 25, 20196 yr "not only has never had a Bently.................." Just gotta pick on me, doncha! Jus 'cause I'm "target rich"..............I wish I were rich financially! 15 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: she will be picking out your nursing home someday! Not this one, Thomas. She's a step-daughter and lives a million miles away in Oho-ho. Besides, I'm never growing old enough to be placed in a nursing home.
August 25, 20196 yr Then I'll plane on smoothing out your sentence structure. I'm doing what my Mother did, she hated the very thought of "middle age" so she skipped it and went from young to old. I'm afraid I did what Dad did though, I beat myself up physically enough arthritis is starting to get my hands. Life without usable hands will stink great big steamy piles of stinkyness! Frosty The Lucky.
August 25, 20196 yr English was my worst subject in school, Frosty. (well that and Math!) If my girlfriend hadn't been my English teacher's favorite student, I'd never have graduated from High School!!! I'm lucky I can construct halfway meaningful sentences. And to make matters worse, when I misspell a word and go to the spell checker, I often click on the incorrect word..............such as when I said I was planning on never growing old enough to be placed in a nursing home. The spell checker posted "plantain" on it. Go Figger!!!!! So smooth out my sentence structure all you want. Doesn't offend me at all. Quit beating yourself up...............your parts will last longer!
August 26, 20196 yr Author On 8/25/2019 at 6:22 PM, SLAG said: Mr. sm - sl, Let me hazard a guess. Your tool looks like a "mill bill". They were tools in the nineteenth century, (and earlier) that were used for dressing mill stones. (that ground grain). SLAG. Good guess, the only thing is that I find few examples that are handled in this way, and also all of them seem to have the edge across the handle orientation and not in the same line as this one has. On 8/25/2019 at 6:38 PM, pnut said: There's a tool similar to that for cutting RR track cold. There was recently a picture posted in the it followed me home thread with a tape measure next to it. Your tool appears to be about two inches shorter but You can compare it to that picture and see what you think. Pnut Thanks, I would say you solved it! 20 hours ago, SLAG said: Mr. Pnut. Good guess. I think that you are right. Check this tool out at, https://www.aldonco.com/store/p/356-Track-Chisel.aspx SLAG. This makes me think that pnuts idea is right, that looks very similar. I can't imagine cutting a piece of track with it though, must be hard work.
August 26, 20196 yr Mr. SM-SL. I remember that somewhere on this site is a description of quick train track cutting, where they scored the top portion of the rain. The score was transverse to the length of the rail. Once scored a heavy weight was dropped close by the score line. This was said to cleanly shear the rail at the score line, into two pieces. The search function on this site is trashy. So, I suggest that you use a search engine, (like google), with a search phrase, plus I forge iron for your search. Good luck with your search, SLAG.
August 26, 20196 yr The father of a woman I dated about 40 years ago worked for the BNRR back in the '20s. Tough 'ol geezer even in old age. Bet he had to do a lot of that kind of stuff the hard way. Just call me Chris
August 26, 20196 yr Rail is surprisingly easy to "cut" by scoring where you want the cut and either dropping it on another piece of rail or smacking it with a sledge hammer. Someone posted a video of "cutting" rail where the guy with the rail chisel and sledge made the score on a chalked line and hit it one handed with the sledge. Either he was REALLY strong or rail snaps pretty easily once scored. It was like watching someone cut glass, score and snap. Made me change how I think of RR rail. Frosty The Lucky.
August 26, 20196 yr Hmmmmm. I'm going to have to see if I can find that video, Frosty. Hard to believe............not that I'm doubting you, just hard to believe. This 'ol guy used to brag about driving RR spikes. Swore he "never missed one" after he learned how to do it. Told me once "Drivin' them spikes all day long'll make a man outaya fer sure!" Crusty old fellow. 40 years ago I thought he was ancient. Truth of the matter is he was probably not as old as I am today. But hey, when you're in your 30's, old is only 20 years older than you!!!!! Update: Just saw a guy on Youtube do it with a HUGE sledge hammer...........without chiselling it. Unbelievable. Just call me Chris
August 26, 20196 yr I haven't found a video but you can still buy the tools new. Aldon is one company. I hope posting the link isn't a violation of the rules. The rail chisels are several pages down and there's a "cross cut" chisel that's probably a smaller version. https://www.aldonco.com/store/c/261-Track-Hand-Tools.aspx Mind posting a link to the Youtube vid? I watched a youtube selection from the menu on the side once about handling rail at a scrap yard. They were using a mag crane to lift rails in job lots and drop them from maybe 10'-15' and the stuff was snapping like dry spaghetti. Another one was using a large mechanical gripper on a back hoe type arm to lift and drop rail to snap it into pieces small enough to fit the crucibles. Back to the search. Frosty The Lucky.
August 26, 20196 yr A non commercial catalog of RR tools (oldie) can be found at: https://archive.org/details/WoodingsVeronaToolWorksCatalogue16 and other places on the net.
August 26, 20196 yr On a side note. Depending on when the catalog came out depends a lot of the names for the earlier trade name vs later meanings. Lots of times in the early day a blacksmith who did welding 90% of the time was called a welder vs later gas and electric welding.
August 28, 20196 yr Rail gets work hardened and brittle on top from trains passing over them. They grind them regularly to take out the chips, smooth any slight divots from flat spots or wheel slip, and to remove the hardened portions periodically. Starts a lot of fires too.
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