Cool Blades

[Ken1261]

Welcome and that’s a great blade, looks to become a family heirloom.

[SOONER]

GWG8541 it’s all spike

[HeritageJames]

This is beautiful! What a gift!

[bocephus]

kyle I used to have a 5 Gallon bucket full of spikes. I tore up RR tracks one summer, maually pulled spikes from ties.

[kyle]

bocephus I still have a 5 gallon bucket full. Picked them up when I was a kid from tracks they pulled up to make a snowmobile trail by my house. It’s no wonder I have 2 garages and a pole barn full of stuff

[bocephus]

kyle Not sure what happened to mine when I moved out. I did use some on duck decoys when I hunted in big open water. They worked good for that.

[Ted Frodyma]

SOONER Did your son make this? Impressive!

[Departing Contestant]

SOONER very unique design. Very nice. Don’t hurt yourself

[GWG8541]

kyle the HC mark is “Higher Carbon”, but all spikes are relatively soft and low in carbon including HC, otherwise the would break under the pressures as a train rolls across track. They need some flex. They use HC spikes on certain sections of the track. Spikes make some cool looking blades, but because they are softer and generally low carbon, they won’t hold an edge like higher carbon blade steel. Some blacksmiths will forge weld a higher carbon bit of steel into the blade, but it’s an advanced technique. It is used in a lot of axes and hatchets. I am not talented enough to do that technique, but my son has done it several times. I love the look of the spike knives, but they are mainly light to medium duty knives because of the softer steel. Of all places, the best collection of Spike knives I’ve seen for sale, was the Blacksmith shop at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They have some talented artisans there.

[GWG8541]

SOONER I like that blade design. He definitely has some talent. I don’t think people realize how much Blacksmithing can be artwork as well as the metallurgy. Both of my sons blacksmith as a hobby and have since they were in their early teens. They really like the older and historical style of smithing. Both worked during high school and college Blacksmithing at a nearby historical park. They are adults now and still keep hammering. My oldest is more passionate about it and even drove from Ohio to take a weeklong class at the New England School of Metal Work to learn how to do the older techniques. How old is your son if you don’t mind?