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wish I saw this sooner "Make your own railroad spike Knife"

GlockJock said:
Am I the only one who's thinking "85 bucks.. for a one day class to learn how to make a railroad spike into a knife?"

Hell, any pub in Chelsea or Lawrence, or (etc) you can buy a knife for about five bucks.. and still have $80 leftover to drink, play pool, have an altercation, and scream "Yo, Gringo! Back off or I'll cut you!!" (and then finish your beer quickly before the rest of his amigos show up to join the festivities)...

Just sayin'
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Most likely you are.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
Protip: There are some railroad knives that are actually worth making knives from. Look for ones marked "HC" on the head. While they still arent "proper" blade steels in terms of carbon content (1080 or higher) they are much higher carbon content than the normal spikes and can come in as high as 1070 which will actually harden enough to keep an edge while the low carbon ones really wont make anything except a knife-shaped-object.

Either way getting behind an anvil and hot steel is always fun. I sold my 200# Peter Wright anvil earlier this year because I never really got into forging and stuck to stock removal knifemaking but the forging I did was always really rewarding and a great stress relief.
 
BringTheRain said:
Why does everyone have railroad spikes? Did They pass them out in elementary school when I was playing hooky?
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There are unused railroad tracks behind my house and I picked them up. I will say that when I was a kid I also had railroad spikes. I grew up in a town that used to have mills and there were abandoned tracks all over and spikes were everywhere. I remember there was a crate of them in the woods by an abandoned mill storage building.
 
BringTheRain said:
Why does everyone have railroad spikes? Did They pass them out in elementary school when I was playing hooky?
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I'm pretty sure they provide them at the class. But, I have 2 boys, my property abuts a rail trail, so I have a pile of spikes in the garage.[laugh]
{wish I had a rail trail in my back yard when I was a kid}
 
Tiktock said:
Protip: There are some railroad knives that are actually worth making knives from. Look for ones marked "HC" on the head. While they still arent "proper" blade steels in terms of carbon content (1080 or higher) they are much higher carbon content than the normal spikes and can come in as high as 1070 which will actually harden enough to keep an edge while the low carbon ones really wont make anything except a knife-shaped-object. ...
Click to expand...

You can also make carbon steel.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/1729-how-to-add-carbon-to-steel/

Ok, it isn't the most practical idea in the world, but it can be done, even in a home workshop.
 
namedpipes said:
You can also make carbon steel.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/1729-how-to-add-carbon-to-steel/

Ok, it isn't the most practical idea in the world, but it can be done, even in a home workshop.
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I doubt anyone wanting to take an intro to smithing course in order make a knife from a low carbon railroad spike is going to be remotely skilled/tooled enough to get into adding carbon to the steel in order to make the resulting knife more useable.

It'd be less work/hassle to just buy a billet of actual blade steel and grind a railroad spike out of it to start with, IMHO :)
 
Tiktock said:
I doubt anyone wanting to take an intro to smithing course in order make a knife from a low carbon railroad spike is going to be remotely skilled/tooled enough to get into adding carbon to the steel in order to make the resulting knife more useable.

It'd be less work/hassle to just buy a billet of actual blade steel and grind a railroad spike out of it to start with, IMHO :)
Click to expand...

Well of COURSE.

But this is NES.

Nothing Easy, St..., er, Silly!
 
I'm going to reach out to the hackerspace and see if I can get this rolling. I need a distraction from work and slapping some metal around sounds about right!

I'm gathering notes from the thread on who's interested, if they specified a day preference and another other information.

*edit*
Looks like we have 50-60 people interested. Sent the email off. Suggested Oct 22 or 23 as a potential date based on their Calendar for existing Blacksmithing classes. If six people are interested in a sooner class, chime in, and I'll see what options are available.

Of course, I'll update as I get more information.
 
Last edited:
noxin said:
I'm going to reach out to the hackerspace and see if I can get this rolling. I need a distraction from work and slapping some metal around sounds about right!

I'm gathering notes from the thread on who's interested, if they specified a day preference and another other information.

*edit*
Looks like we have 50-60 people interested. Sent the email off. Suggested Oct 22 or 23 as a potential date based on their Calendar for existing Blacksmithing classes. If six people are interested in a sooner class, chime in, and I'll see what options are available.

Of course, I'll update as I get more information.
Click to expand...

I was hoping someone would take the initiative to get it actually rolling.

Still interested. I don't think either date conflicts with anything. I might possibly be two, but unsure yet.
 
I got a response this morning. No discounts to be had. I have an idea of how to game the system a little bit to try and save about $10/ticket for a class of six.

The director is swamped dealing with an open house this weekend but I'll reach out again next week to see if we can get something scheduled.
 
Wow, the director is all over this shit.... Got another response just a little bit ago.

The original instructor isn't available, but they have two other instructors that can run the class. The Oct 22/23 date is out due to a private event at the space.

Six People Per Class
Sun 10/9
Sun 10/30
Sun 11/6
Sat 11/12
Sat 11/26
Sun 11/27
Sun 12/4
Sun 12/1
Sat 1/7/17
Sun 1/8/17


Spots are going to list at 85+eventbrite fee of like 5 and change for non-members.
 
Last edited:
Another update from the director, links for people to sign up directly at non member pricing

Sat 10/8 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27730039294
Sun 10/9 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27733478581
Sun 10/30 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27733598941
Sun 11/6 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27733750394
*** REMOVED Sat 11/12 ***
Sun 11/26 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27734234843
Sun 11/27 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27734435443
Sun 12/4 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27734683184
Sun 12/11 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27734938949
Sat 1/7/17 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27735116480
Sun 1/8/17 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forge-a-railroad-spike-knife-with-jason-scott-tickets-27735352185

Pricing :
Non-Member Pay for it yourself: 85.00 + 5.67 EventBrite Fee = 90.67
 
Last edited:
I'm going to the 10/9 class. Who's joining me?

Also, considering the Damascus class the following weekend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/intro-to-forging-damascus-steel-with-jason-scott-tickets-27034442746


noxin said:
Wow, the director is all over this shit.... Got another response just a little bit ago.

The original instructor isn't available, but they have two other instructors that can run the class. The Oct 22/23 date is out due to a private event at the space.

Six People Per Class
Sun 10/9
Sun 10/30
Sun 11/6
Sat 11/12
Sat 11/26
Sun 11/27
Sun 12/4
Sun 12/1
Sat 1/7/17
Sun 1/8/17


Spots are going to list at 85+eventbrite fee of like 5 and change for non-members.
Click to expand...
 
Me and a couple friends were with John380 at The Worcshop today. It was a stress reliever, banging away at some hot steel. 20161008_190557.jpg

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

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