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I was at the scrap yard in Boise and a guy said he only forges with reclaimed railroad spikes now.
He told me they have a great carbon content for simple tools and the steel is super consistent. It made me reconsider always buying new bar stock. Anyone else have a go-to scrap source they swear by?
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milaprice1mo ago
That's a cool find, but heads up on the carbon content thing. Railroad spikes are actually super low carbon, like 0.20% tops. They're great for practice or decorative stuff like bottle openers, but they won't harden well for a tool that needs to keep an edge. The consistency part is true though, they're all pretty much the same. I'd stick with new steel for any tool that needs to be used hard, lol. Old leaf springs or coil springs from cars are a way better scrap bet for that.
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michaelf511mo ago
Actually some railroad spikes are marked HC for high carbon, around 0.30-0.40%. Still not amazing for a knife but they can harden a bit. The regular ones are definitely soft steel though.
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betty_price141mo ago
Yeah, I grabbed a bunch of old lawnmower blades from a repair shop that was tossing them. They're usually decent steel and you can get a feel for how they move under the hammer. What do you look for when you're picking through scrap like that?
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