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Have a few railroad spikes and rail plates from abandoned RR line. Is this something that one might use for making knives?
Hell yeah, take a look at a couple of episodes of “Forged in fire” they often have RR spikes as a challenge. Looks like good steel too.Have a few railroad spikes and rail plates from abandoned RR line. Is this something that one might use for making knives?
NO! Not even. Not for a serious working knife. Common RR spikes are worthless and just a joke for real working knives. Even RR spikes with a HC on the head have only around .30% carbon content on average and you will barely get any noticeable hardness from them, no matter how you heat treat them. They make good paper weights or conversation pieces. If you are going to spend time and energy making a knife buy or procure a piece of high carbon steel to work with. At least steel with a carbon content in the range of .60 bare minimum. 1080/1084 is relatively cheap and will make a great blade with a good but yet relatively simple heat treat. 1070 will also make an OK blade. 5160 spring steel makes a fair blade. You can also use a worn out file if you know it is high carbon. Some old ones are just case hardened, but most found in these times are usually good enough.Have a few railroad spikes and rail plates from abandoned RR line. Is this something that one might use for making knives?
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