Cranerails anvil

[gewoon ik]

Because not every piece of rails is railroad, I have one of cranerails.

I have checked the topic of Georg about his modified railroad to steal, sorry borrow, ideas.

I have grind in the web a fuller (both sides a different radius). A small horn. Rest is still a blank. No idea what i want. A hotcut seems smart, but as a beginner maybe something I need to sharpen a lot. So I am open for suggestions. 

One side is not flush (was not straight) and I get borred with grinding. But no idea if it will bother me. Maybe for installing in the support.

Support needs to be made. Have some scrap wood, will propably something of that pile.

I have to harden it. A bit scared of that. No idea why. I have the book "modern blacksmith". But do I harden it like in the book, so the topside or do i harden only the ends i plan on using?

Some pictures in attachment so you cna understand my rambling

the other end

The piece is  a bit longer than 300mm and flange is 150mm. Rest i fergot

[Charles R. Stevens]

Looks like an anvil to me

[George N. M.]

I probably wouldn't go to the effort of hardening it until I had used it for awhile.  If, after use, you find it is too soft and is being damaged and deformed then you can go back and go through the whole hardening process.  if that is necessary you only need to harden the part upon which you are hammering, not the whole thing.  I would use it as is.

If you feel like you need to do more grinding I would put a cut off edge opposite your little "horn."

Rails, either railroad or crane, are pretty tough steel and work pretty well as anvils without any hardening.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

Many rail alloys are work hardening and so you may notice a difference over time; (besides getting better at hammer control so you don't miss the workpiece as much!)

[Frosty]

I highly recommend you not harden rail, modern rail has a higher carbon content than what was common when "The Modern Blacksmith" was written. Modern rail doesn't take well to impact when hardened, it tends to chip even when tempered to blue. I must've made 7-8 for various state crews who needed something that fit in the truck tool box. I'd recently found and bought a copy of "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" and followed his recommendations, twice.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

I have read that US rail is 95 point manganese steel. I can tell you from personal experience that it makes a fine anvil as is. 

 

Here are a few ideas…

[gewoon ik]

I saw it and borrowed some ideas. Otherwise i wouldn't have put it on it's end. 

 

The rail is old ( for me as a youngster) but not a 100 years old. 

I will use it as it is, saves me the hassle of harding it. 

And also whatever I think I need, I can always add.

Thanks

Charles, i thank you for the compliment btw.

[BillyBones]

I am no expert, but in that 2nd photo where you cut the "V" out for the bick there is a bit of cut that is going way past the point where they meet. You may want to weld that up, seems that it may cause a weak spot with the potential of breaking off the bick. 

Also, is it just me or does that peice of rail have a much wider base that what you normally see? I see that you are in Europe so it may be a difference in area or is cranerail made like that to maybe give more stability? 

[gewoon ik]

It is wider than tall yes.

It is an type they don't use or make anymore. I have no idea of the profile. I know it is used as cranerails and when replaced, it get a second life as slipway rails (the cars of the slipway roll on these) untill the web cracks. It is a piece of a broken rail. You can see deformation on the top (normal top) of the heavy use and abuse (each car is rougly 15 tons and max each car can load is 100tons).

With a grinder you have overcut unfortunatly. So better to weld those groves up? I grind them into a V and weld them with my mig.

[George N. M.]

The way I avoid over cuts with a circular blade whether in wood or metal is to stop at the indicated corner with the circular blade and finish the cut with a straight saw or file.  It is more work but is stonger and looks better.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

For rail I drill a stop hole where I want the V to end and cut as closely as feasible without over cutting and snap it off with a hammer. It needs to be close but rail breaks easily. It'll want a little clean up with a disk grinder or Dremel, smooth and curved inside angles are stronger.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

I marked out well and used an angle grinder cut off wheel. (Actually it was a used chop saw wheel on my big angle grinder. I use them untold they are small enugh to fit the gaurd)

if your going to weld on it, heat it to about 500f (black hot or when the black soot from an accetaline flame burns off) and weld with high c rod.