railroad tie plate for an anvil

C

clockworkfish

Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
161
Hey I recently acquired some railroad tie plate from a friend who works with the railroad, it has a nice ring when you hit it while suspended, however when its placed on a surface its pretty dead and doesn't provide the hammer with much bounce. So I was thinking of heat treating them by bringing them to 1500f and quenching in superquench. Then tempering at 300-350f twice at an hour each time.

I read a document for chemical specifications of tie plates and it said they will contain no more than .5 carbon which is why I was thinking of using super quench. One thing that bothers me is that the article was published in 1921 so things may be different now.

Is this a good idea or horrible?
 
Instead of trying to heat treat it, which won't do much, do like I did and use them to create a lot of mass. Here's my thread on my anvil using 10 plates and an 8# sledgehammer head.

I was told that had I welded the plates together I might have gotten better rebound results, but I have no way to weld at the moment.
 
Mass is not the issue though, the face hardness is what's the problem, as many have said before, the anvil should be the hardest tool in the shop.
 
I just don't think you're going to get enough hardness to make much of a difference. Even with super quench you'll only get into the high 40's-low 50's range. That was one reason I used the sledgehammer head as the face on my anvil. It's small, but for blades it just needs to be larger than the face of the hammer you're swinging.

As for the acorn table adding mass, does the table weight 180#? That's roughly the weight of my anvil minus the hammer head. Besides, wood would deaden any vibrations and absorb the kinetic energy that causes the rebound.
 
I have about of Dozen of those to and I had the same idea! I would maybe head treat one if you have more than one (couldn't hurt right?) I still wouldn't use it as your main anvil I'm just not so sure on the metal quality. But let me now how it goes I've been wanting to try it too!
 
Acorn table is 250-300lbs all steel. The surface of it provides more bounce than the plate that's been clamped to it.
 
High hardness is not the issue, or really all that desirable in an anvil. Most are moderately hard, Rc 48-52. Mass and inertia is what an anvil is all about. Even an unhardened Rc42-45 cast steel anvil will work fine if it has enough mass. For forging a knife, you want at least twenty times of mass of the hammer. So for a 3# hammer, you need a minimum of 60#, 75# is better, 100 pounds is good. Some folks go as high as 100 times the hammer weight.
 
So its ok if the anvil doesn't allow for much if any bounce at all? i figure heavy is a definite must as having your work area shift is no good, but wouldn't something harder (bouncier) transfer the energy better to the workpiece?
 
The order of necessity in an anvil would be :
Solid - a pile of sand is heavy, but not solid, thus it would make a poor anvil.
Heavy - the amount of mass resists movement by its inertia, and thus the force of the hammer blow transfers to the work, not the anvil.
Hard - The surface needs to be reasonably hard, but most any good hard surface will work when improvising. There are even anvils made from granite.

If using a stack of plates they need to fit tightly together, and should be welded or bolted solid. If placed in or on a solid and heavy base, like a big acorn table or a bucket of concrete, then you effectively increase the mass. You can get a block or 4140 steel and weld it on the top of the stack of plates to make a smoother working surface.

My 125# anvil is bolted to a 400# acorn table/flat anvil. It makes a great setup.
 
Bounce is good. I went from a heavy anvil like object to real anvil and it is awesome. The anvil is heavy but the.anvil like object was heavier but moved far less metal under the hammer.
 
So, you can afford an acorn table, but not a decent anvil? Search craigslist, etc - They can be found with a reasonable effort.
 
I totally agree that a real anvil is a much better choice.

FWIW, old acorn tables can be found really cheap if you look around. I bought mine for $90, and the guy delivered it from Baltimore to my house. He called it a flat anvil, but it was an antique acorn table.
 
I didn't buy the acorn table, my friend works at a metal furniture fabrication shop. So I think I will still attempt to harden the faces, the mass looks to be fine and everything else checks out I just need some bounce. Also as far as getting a real anvil, I will when I have my own shop space
 
The table has mass, but its not concentrated under the hammer.


Have a look at the Sea Robin post anvil.
You can do that in hardened 4140 pretty cheaply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top