Subject: Re: Homemade Anvils

From: [email-masked] (Pete Bellas)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 18:24:36 GMT

While on the subject of homemade anvils I have a couple more questions.
I am contemplating making an anvil out of railroad track. The problem is
that a 18" piece of track only weighs ~70 lbs and the rail head is not 
very flat or large. So here is my idea. I will use three 18" sections
of track, two side by side right side up, with the third inverted so that
the flat bottom is my anvil surface. Then weld the entire assembly
together. This would give me a good size flat working surface and about
200 lbs of mass. Crude ascii drawing follows:

          _________
        _|___   ___|_
       (   ) \ / (   )
        \ /  | |  \ /
        | |  | |  | |
        | |  | |  | |
        | |  | |  | |
        | |  / \  | |
     ___/ \_(___)_/ \___
    |_________|_________|

Questions, is railroad track heat treated at all? If not is there any way
for me to heat treat it, should I just do the section that is going to be
my top? Or is it just a bad idea. Thanks.

			-Pete-

* Pete Bellas                   "Cogito ergo spud"                         *
* Citicorp/TTI                       I think therefore I yam.              *
* Santa Monica, CA                                                         *
* [email-masked]                                                     *

---

From: [email-masked] (ErnieLeim)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 03:45:04 -0500

As the instigator of this discussion I can say that I've mad eclose to 60
anvils , about 45 of them were Railroad anvils.
Your idea of inverting the rail to get a larger surface would probably
work except  for the fact that rail is flame hardened on top at the
factory . The base is left soft . Rail is basicly a 9230 steel ( manganese
- silicon ) It welds okay but depending on how hard the track was used the
top surface may be micro-fractured. If it is and you weld to it,  it will
probably crack if you don't preheat it to about 400 degrees F.
I'd say that it would give you a bigger face but you should try to find a
relatively new piece of rail or you will be grinding forever to get the
rust off the bottom.
 Good luck
***********************************************************
*                    Ernie Leimkuhler                     *
*                 Stagesmith Productions                  *              *
               Custom Metal Fabrication                 *                 
   
*    ABANA   SCA     AWS    USITT   IATSE local 15, 488   *
*                      Renton, WA                         *
*"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind" the bard  *
***********************************************************

---

From: [email-masked] (Howard Jones)
Date: 26 Mar 1995 14:48:49 +0800

Pete Bellas ([email-masked]) wrote:
: While on the subject of homemade anvils I have a couple more questions.
: I am contemplating making an anvil out of railroad track. The problem is

: Questions, is railroad track heat treated at all? If not is there any way

It sure is !, BHP in australia have a patented process which substantially
hardens the upper surface making it a better rail.
The surface is heated to red heat by gas flame (i think) and it is immediately
quenched by liquid gas (co2 i think). 

also you could expect all that rolling stock passing over it to have work
hardened the surface as well.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Jones, ([email-masked])                      _--_|\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~