Blacksmithing

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Blacksmithing

• How to make a knife from a
• Railroad Spike
• By
• Nick Ratliff

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Materials

• Railroad Spike
• Welding Gloves
• Safety Glasses
• Blacksmithing Tongs (I used Vise-Grips)
• Ball-point Hammer
• Anvil (I used a sledge hammer)
• Forge (I used a gas burner)
• File or Grinder

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Step 1

• Place Railroad Spike into forge (if you have
  one).
• If you dont have a forge, which happens to be
  expensive, you can use a gas burner and place the
  spike on the rails.

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Step 2

• Ignite the Forge or Gas Burner.

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Step 3

• Heat the Railroad Spike until it is reddened and
  hot enough to be malleable.

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Step 4

• Use Gloves and Vise-Grips to remove Railroad
  Spike from flames.

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Step 5

• Quickly place hot Railroad Spike onto Anvil (in
  my case, the sledge hammer).

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Step 6

• Use Vise-Grips to hold the Railroad Spike in
  place while using the Ball-point hammer to
  flatten the end of the Railroad Spike.

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• Continue Steps 3-6 until the Railroad Spike has
  reached the desired thickness for your knife.
• The following are some pictures of my experience
  with achieving the desired thickness.

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• Let me be the first to tell you that hammering
  hardened steel to flatten it is no easy task.
• It took several hours to achieve the thickness I
  wished for.
• By the time I was finished, I did not think I
  would be able to move my arm the next day.

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Step 7

• After you have hammered the metal down to the
  desired thickness, place the Railroad Spike into
  a bucket of water to finalize the thickness and
  shape of the blade.

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Step 8

• After you have achieved the desired thickness of
  your blade and cooled the metal then you are
  ready for the finishing touches.
• Use the File or Grinder to sharpen the blade and
  give it an edge.

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Here is my finished knife