The Copilot
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- Apr 24, 2012
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Show your Railroad Rail Anvils
- Thread starter The Copilot
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Provincial
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Here is one I picked up at the local scrap metal yard. It is pretty well built, and has the hardy holes. It is 3" wide, 6" high, and 18" long. The base flange is 6" wide. I haven't cleaned it up yet, just used it again tonight! 
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Spudland_Dave
Well-known member
Real nice Find The Copilot! I've got a couple sections of rail at home i've been wanting to do this with. Would you mind grabbing some dimensions of yours so I can try my hand at duplicating it to some degree?
blueflame6
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W0rLDWaR4
Well-known member
Pardon my ignorance, but what do you use these for?
drivesitfar
Well-known member
CoPilot: nice thread and i'm still jealous of your RR anvil find. it's an awesome looking piece of old US steel.
WWIIII: CoPilot is right on about using these to pound cold steel on. the real anvils were only made to hit hot steel on and there are a lot of folks that use a real anvil for cold steel and that's why the edges chip off and can alter the real anvils ability to be used correctly. since real anvils are not cheap or easily made the RR track is a great option if you can find a piece.
All: here's my favorite piece of RR track i own and i have several pieces laying around my shop/garage. i'm also including a tin knocker's anvil that i used as my Avitar on GJ for a long time that was made to be used with tin or the thinner gauge steels.
WWIIII: CoPilot is right on about using these to pound cold steel on. the real anvils were only made to hit hot steel on and there are a lot of folks that use a real anvil for cold steel and that's why the edges chip off and can alter the real anvils ability to be used correctly. since real anvils are not cheap or easily made the RR track is a great option if you can find a piece.
All: here's my favorite piece of RR track i own and i have several pieces laying around my shop/garage. i'm also including a tin knocker's anvil that i used as my Avitar on GJ for a long time that was made to be used with tin or the thinner gauge steels.
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
Here is mine from Sunday, definitely a before pic. I've wire wheeled since where I could reach, but It will get an E-bath and some cleanup work done as well.
Right at 14-1/2 Lbs, 16" long, 4-1/2 H, 2-5/16 wide.
This one was definitely from lighter rail.
It's amazing how similar some of these are. I really do think someone was manufacturing these at some point from old rails.
Right at 14-1/2 Lbs, 16" long, 4-1/2 H, 2-5/16 wide.
This one was definitely from lighter rail.
It's amazing how similar some of these are. I really do think someone was manufacturing these at some point from old rails.
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Farmall450
Well-known member
Yours has a very nice design, someone spent a lot of time on that...mine all pale in comparison.
Pictures from the parking lot of the Habitat ReStore where i bought it for $15. It had been worked hard with a lot of dents in it. Due to space at my old place i had to get rid of the interesting stand.
View media item 14364View media item 14363
View media item 14364View media item 14363
Outlawmws
Well-known member
That's an old truck housing. We used to see Mod A housings made into jack stands all the time... I have a couple from back in the day.
Yup. Other than being amazingly rusty it would make quite a good stand. Heavy & stable but also with spots that one could bolt on a rack to hold things like hammers or what not. I wish I could have kept the stand but I just did not have the space at the time. Now I could find a great home for it.
Provincial
Well-known member
Joe B., that stand is the axle housing from a tractor. You can tell by the fender mount ears halfway out the tube, as well as the bosses for mounting the 3-point lower arms.
This is a great thread! Many interesting anvils.
This is a great thread! Many interesting anvils.
cherokee140
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- Joined
- Sep 23, 2010
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- 232
Shoot mine is just a hunk of rail....I have also found tons of uses for the spikes as well...
GOOD steel in that stuff.
GOOD steel in that stuff.
Here are mine. Two large ones that are both the same rail size, and one small one. All 3 were found at garage sales over the last 2 years, and I paid a total of $5 for all 3. The two large ones used to be one long single piece, but it was too heavy to move easily, so I torch cut it into two roughly equal length anvils. I shaped the ends of the small one for general use banging on things, and I rough shaped one end of both the larger ones. I stopped there, because I am trying to decide how far I want to take the modifications. I am sort of waiting for the usefulness of different features to become apparent through actual need rather than just adding a bunch and possibly never needing them.
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
My other chunk of RR track: This one is even smaller gauge (or whatever the sizing metric is) than the shaped track is. Only 4-1/4" tall 2" wide on top 4-1/8 or so on the bottom flat, and 4-3/4" long. 6-1/2 lbs, so right at 16-1/2 lbs per ft.
You can see where someone got serious on it on the near edge.
Got this a couple of years ago at a yard sale, and keep it on the bench for just beating on stuff. where there is no finesse needed.
The round disk was my dad's "anvil" for inside the house, or at least that is where I found it. a hair over 6" round.
I'd like to find about a foot of the heaviest track available for my "Power hammer" setup being made from an old 50's power nailer. It would be a good piece for that. I'll probably wind up getting just a stray chunk of steel for it. I used to have a much thicker disk than my dad's, about 4' thick and 8 or 10 wide. not sure what I ever did with it...
You can see where someone got serious on it on the near edge.
Got this a couple of years ago at a yard sale, and keep it on the bench for just beating on stuff. where there is no finesse needed.
The round disk was my dad's "anvil" for inside the house, or at least that is where I found it. a hair over 6" round.
I'd like to find about a foot of the heaviest track available for my "Power hammer" setup being made from an old 50's power nailer. It would be a good piece for that. I'll probably wind up getting just a stray chunk of steel for it. I used to have a much thicker disk than my dad's, about 4' thick and 8 or 10 wide. not sure what I ever did with it...
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PCO6
Well-known member
I have a couple of pieces of rail that I haven't shaped into "anvils" ... yet.
A short piece that is about 5" high and 6.5" long ...
View media item 38710
and a longer piece that is 3" high by 40" long ...
View media item 41523
A short piece that is about 5" high and 6.5" long ...
View media item 38710
and a longer piece that is 3" high by 40" long ...
View media item 41523
ArtDeco
Well-known member
I'm really enjoying this thread
yotie
Member
So not really knowing about anvils I picked up a 15lb hf anvil, heated up a peice of steel placed it gave a few wacks and I was leaving big dents on it, hahaha, so I Picked this up, cleaned it up a little, paint, its 12 inches long..aww its so much better.. 
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shopdog00
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SweetD
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Great pics guys - I'd sure love to have a RR track anvil!
Dave
Dave
Outlawmws
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Shopdog, how tall is that one?
shopdog00
New member
It's 7" tall and 3" across the top.
Gary
Gary
lotsoftools
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Exceller8
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Spudland_Dave
Well-known member
I've got one in progress as well...love the pics, giving me ideas all the time.
So back a couple months ago when I Was googling Track Anvils, i found some info that this anvil project may have been a common "Shop Project" in schools and this is why we see a fair amount of "Similar but different" creations from all over the place....Just figured I'd add that to the conversation. Once I get mine done, I'll post it up.
So back a couple months ago when I Was googling Track Anvils, i found some info that this anvil project may have been a common "Shop Project" in schools and this is why we see a fair amount of "Similar but different" creations from all over the place....Just figured I'd add that to the conversation. Once I get mine done, I'll post it up.
yotie
Member
I wound like to make a stand for mine, right now its on a tree stump.. I would like to get a 1 foot "same size as anvil" section of "I beam" for the anvil to sit on top of , bolted or welded to "I beam", then use a 4x4 metal square tube for middle stand, then maybe 1/2 inch plate steel for the base,, not sure how much a llittle peice of "I beam" will cost...
Outlawmws
Well-known member
You are actually better off with the tree stump... A steel stand just make the anvil rebound more...
This is great stuff... So much heritage here in these anvils. You guys make me proud to be American!
I think I can fab one of these from some abandoned rails not far from where I live... They tore up the line and left a few rails behind about 8 years ago. I think they are still there.
I think I can fab one of these from some abandoned rails not far from where I live... They tore up the line and left a few rails behind about 8 years ago. I think they are still there.
ZRX61
Well-known member
Thought I'd posted mine....
ZRX61
Well-known member
https://scontent-lax3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/423366_2924950615613_1173552001_n.jpg?oh=06eaa91f2564590beacd6be3e1405434&oe=5672751E
https://scontent-lax3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/396528_2924954495710_1769547549_n.jpg?oh=8506e85666e72a4cae502034a272c7bb&oe=56742C0E
https://scontent-lax3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/396528_2924954495710_1769547549_n.jpg?oh=8506e85666e72a4cae502034a272c7bb&oe=56742C0E
Any hints on cutting down chunks of rail? I have an ~12" section that is good and another ~24+ that's a bit unwieldy. I was thinking of cutting the longer one into a few 3-4" sections and squaring the ends better on what remains.
I've heard chop and belt saws are inaccurate, but power hacksaws are getting rare.
I've heard chop and belt saws are inaccurate, but power hacksaws are getting rare.
dkroth
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Zeke
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I hadn't seen this thread before but RR anvils are Americana if I've ever seen it.
36truck
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I have 4 pieces of rail about a foot long. Guess I need to build some anvils out of them. I also have a BIG chunk of round stock that's about 10" across by 12" tall that I use as an anvil. It sits on a piece of rubber mat. Works great for beating on.
I actually just picked this large one up this morning. I'm still friends with guys at my previous job and I knew they had this laying around. Found my next project for shaping the larger of the two. The small one has been very handy too.
