The time I watched a guy try to forge a railroad spike into a chef's knife

I mean, I get it, railroad spikes are cheap and easy to find. But last Saturday at a local hammer-in, this dude spent 3 hours trying to flatten one out, and it just kept splitting on him at the anvil. He was using a 2-pound cross peen and hammering cold, no normalization cycles or anything. By the end, it looked more like a rusty spatula than a blade. Has anyone else seen folks skip the basic heat treat steps with spike steel?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.jade22d ago

Watched a guy do the same thing at a demo. He got the spike red hot once, hammered it until it went black, then kept going cold. By the third heat he was wondering why the edge was crumbling. Told him to normalize three times before even thinking about shaping. Most spike steel is just 1080 or maybe 1050 if you're lucky, but it comes with stress from the rail yard. He'd have better luck with a file if he just wants a knife that holds an edge.

wrenstone14d ago

Bet no one's talked about how those spikes are case hardened from the rail mill, so you're fighting a layer of high carbon crust over low carbon core. Heat it too quick and the case flakes off like bad paint, leaving you with butter underneath.