TIL some old railroad spikes make terrible knives

I always figured railroad spike knives were the coolest thing, right? But I watched this old timer at a meetup in Tulsa last month hammer one out and then he pointed out most modern spikes are high carbon steel but actually have a lot of impurities from being beat up on tracks for years. He did a spark test and it barely threw any sparks compared to a file. Now I get why a lot of those decorative spike knives are more for looks than actual cutting.

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_davis902d ago

Did you ever actually use one of those spike knives for camp work or are you going off what that guy said? I've got an old one from a buddy who forged it out of a pre-1950s spike he found on some abandoned line in West Virginia, and that thing holds an edge better than most of the factory knives I own. The spark test thing is real for modern spikes because they switched to a different alloy in the 60s or something, but the older ones are a different story. And even with the micro cracks, you can work around them if you know what you're doing during the forge. Not every spike knife is a wall hanger, some of them actually cut.

hayden_butler272d ago

Haven't we all been sold on that whole 'railroad spike knife' fantasy at some point? I used to think they were like the ultimate DIY blade, something you could pass down to your grandkids. But after seeing that same kind of spark test at a local forge meet, it completely changed my mind. The guy there said the constant pounding from trains actually makes the steel brittle in spots and full of micro cracks. So yeah, they look cool hanging on a wall but I wouldn't trust one for any real camp work or cutting. Kind of a bummer since they seemed so tough.