Forged my first knife from a railroad spike last weekend and it changed my mind about using cheap steel

Picked up a spike from the tracks near my shop in Tulsa and after hammering it out I was shocked how well it held an edge, now I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this with other scrap metal or am I just lucky with this batch?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulb9820d ago

Yeah that "chipped like crazy" thing happens a lot with mystery steel. Leaf springs are hardened weird and you never know what you're gonna get. I've noticed the same pattern in other stuff too like finding an old rusty axe head at a flea market and it holds an edge better than a brand new one from the hardware store. There's something about old steel that was made before they started cutting corners on quality control. I think it's the same reason people dig up old farm tools and they work better than new ones even though they've been sitting in the dirt for 50 years. Just goes to show you can't judge steel by how it looks on the outside.

lilychen20d ago

Buddy tried a leaf spring from a junk truck, said it chipped like crazy first hit.

william_miller7d ago

Huh, that's rough. A buddy of mine tried the same thing with a spring off an old Dodge and it shattered like glass on the second swing.