Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

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SteveHGraham
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Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by SteveHGraham »

I got myself a very short piece of railroad track to use on my indoor workbench. Sometimes you need something to pound stuff on. It's very handy.

Question: is it worth it (and possible) to harden the top of it?
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Key to hardening is that the material have a high enough carbon content. If you have cut off a bit to shape it; try hardening the cutoff. That will answer the possible. I have a RR track anvil for light duty, never felt the need to harden it.

There is also the option of a hardening compound like Casenit, but probably a bigger project than it is worth.
John Hasler
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by John Hasler »

Rail is evidently heat-treated high carbon steel.

http://ispatguru.com/rails-and-rail-steel/
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by SteveHGraham »

I was thinking of using the belt grinder to pretty up the top surface, but then I wondered if I would be grinding off work-hardened steel.
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by Russ Hanscom »

In part, may depend of the age of your piece. Modern rail may have a more consistent composition. Some of the older stuff likely has a much wider range of minor alloying elements.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by SteveHGraham »

I did what I should have done before asking questions. I ran a file over it. Seems very hard. No biting at all.
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tornitore45
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by tornitore45 »

Is probably work hardened by the millions of wheels rolling on it.
Anyway how would you heat it to red, and drop it in the quench bath?
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by Russ Hanscom »

If you really want to harden it, there are some articles in blacksmithing venues showing how to heat treat just the head and leave the balance untempered. Requires a forge and some sand or firebrick if I recall.
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BadDog
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by BadDog »

Or hard face? I seem to recall reading where someone used that to provide a hard top for a RR anvil that wasn't deemed hard enough once completed.
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John Hasler
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by John Hasler »

You could flame harden it with oxyacetylene. Sounds to me as if it is already about right, though.
mihit
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by mihit »

Flame hardening would work.

The way the katana was made was to encase the back of the blade in clay to retard heating and cooling, then the piece heated and quenched, the cuttng enge would cool quickly and gain hardness while the spine retained ductility.
Same could be applied here, if you felt the need, but if it'll skate a file then you're probably fine as-is, beware of brittleness though, chips in the eye are no joke.
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liveaboard
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Re: Hardening Top of Railroad Track Anvil?

Post by liveaboard »

I believe RR track is factory hardened on the crown, but the center and support areas are left soft for flexibility.
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