![]() Railroad spikes can be gathered from old tracks, purchased in antique shops or purchased from train enthusiasts, and they are turned into a variety of useful and creative tools.ĪSTM A65-01. Railroad spikes, which have been used on railroad tracks for more than 100 years, are collector's items for train enthusiasts and historians. One such object that you may not have thought much about is the railroad spike. Many people enjoy taking uncommon objects and making practical tools out of them. (The Tuyere, newsletter of the Illinois Valey Blacksmith Association) ![]() With this in mind, be aware of a higher carbon content and work with the material accordingly. The spikes are barely heat treatable and won't hold an edge very long. 80% that we would usually call high carbon. HC on a railroad spike does not necessarily mean high carbon, it may mean highway crossing, and these spikes need to be stronger for this part of the track. In seasoned oak, another experimenter needed 4,281 pounds. Early experiments showed that pulling out a 9/16″ × 9/16″ spike driven 4¼" inches into dry cedar required on average a force of 857 pounds. A spike with the wedge driven across the grain will have about twice as much holding power as one driven with the grain. Its square cross section gives a railroad spike much higher holding strength than a fastener having the same amount of metal but a circular cross section has roughly speaking, about 50% more. The wedge is driven into the tie across the grain, that is, parallel to the track. The spikes used to fasten T-shaped railroad track to wooden ties have an L-shaped head and a square shank. ![]() Appalachian Blacksmiths Association - Oil.Appalachian Blacksmiths Association - Wax.See episodes of "Forged in Fire" at /shows/forged-in-fire. Learn more at Stokes Knifeworks on Facebook. 21 on the History Channel and can be viewed at. He sells knives and takes on custom jobs through his Facebook page, Stokes Knifeworks. He hopes to build his hobby of knife making into a full-time business. Stokes said he’s spending some of the money on better forging tools, but saving the rest. His competitor’s handle came off when his sword was used to break up an ice block - a catastrophic failure that left Stokes the winner of the $10,000 prize. Neither Stokes nor his competitor had ever made a sword. That left Stokes and another contestant to compete in a final challenge - return to their home forges for five days and create an “arming sword,” which they then brought back to Connecticut for testing. And a competitor’s knives were better at cutting up a carcass.īut after the tests for strength, durability and edge retention were finished, two competitors were removed - one because his knives no longer resembled railroad spikes and the other because the edges of his blades were chewed up when they were slammed against railroad spikes. Though he felt he had an edge when he learned the test involved railroad spikes, it wasn’t apparent through the hour-long episode that Stokes would come out the winner.Ī judge criticized Stokes’ knives as being good for spreading butter and jam. He said he didn’t expect to get an answer from his inquiry, so he was surprised when he got a response within a few minutes.Īfter convincing the people who run the show and himself that he could make knives well enough to compete, he was flown to Connecticut earlier this year for the challenge. He said his wife Stephanie encouraged him to apply for the show after they learned about it on a blade-smithing for beginners Facebook page. While helping his father build houses for a living, Stokes kept tinkering with knife-making as a hobby. Stokes liked knife-making, particularly making something useful out of scrap metal. He said his welding instructor was more of a blacksmith than a welder and when Stokes finished his welding assignments, the instructor used the extra time to show his student how to forge knives. Stokes, who graduated from South Effingham High School, studied welding at Savannah Tech. “They created that contest for me,” he said. The 25-year-old Guyton resident had practiced the most on making knives from railroad spikes, favoring the easily acquired scrap metal. ![]() John Stokes couldn’t believe his luck when the "Forged in Fire" TV show judges challenged him and three other contestants to make three knives from railroad spikes in three hours.
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