I have started my business as a blacksmith 4 months ago and all I have been making is rail road spike knives. If I ever need help on making a knife I come to this video. This video tells you everything you need to know. Thanks for sharing.
When I was a teenager, dad was into forging and we made these knives. We would forge weld a piece of tool steel into the blade so as to make it more useable. Thanks for sharing!
Gotta love the good ol' railradd spike knife, It's the first knife I showed my son how to forge, they make great starter projects, and teach hammer control. I do the same thing on the ones people want to use usually with a piece of 1095, most of the ones like this I sell people just want to give away as a novelty item or a letter opener. Thanks for watching I really appreciate it!
Man I built a my first coal forge and tried it tonight with a rr spike. I swear like one of your blows is 5 of mine. And I'm a 330 lbs dude swinging as hard as I can. Really crazy how you guys make it look so easy. I'm not giving up though :)
Awesome man! I spent most of the time on my first projects beating the anvil up more than actually hitting the steel. Keep hammering and never give up, I have a large box at my forge where I keep failed projects to show to people just getting into the craft, each one is a stepping stone to bigger and better things. thanks for watching, I appreciate it!
@@Mysticmountainforge thanks man. I started a rr spike knife back in high school and I found it looking for scrap steel. I think its good to keep those around. But thank you dude 🙏 I've been welding for 13 years now and love working with steel. Keep teaching your knowledge
This video really helped me on forging these knives, there is alot of folks who really like these type of knives. Thanks again for making these videos, I enjoy working on these.
It wouldn't be hard at all, you are the second person to ask about a rr spike specific project so I will shoot a video over it, I will do a seax and a tanto as soon as I wrap up my current build.
Anvils are hard to find. I used a 4 ft section of 12" cast iron sewage pipe, with a cap on it, mounted about 1ft deep in the ground. Vice grips, hammer. I made a railroad spike toothpick. It was so gratifying to shape steel that I just wanted to share it :)
Sewer pipes for toothpicks. The anvil scarcity is pushing aspiring blacksmiths to desperate measures. 🤣 Good on you for letting nothing stop you from creating. 👍
awesome video thanks you make everything look so easy , my buddy just gave me a 5 gallon bucket full of railroad spikes must be 200 lbs of them if i get good enough maybe i can sell some of the knives i make from them
Thank you for the information in this video, I'm working on my very first knife right now 1-3-2022 I just put the forge together and now I'm hammering on a railroad spike for my first knife attempt & you do make it look like it's way easier than it really is!
Howd you go? Are you using a proper and good size anvil that's properly mounted and good forging hammer? In my experience it makes a huge difference than trying to use some small piece of steel or iron or sledge hammer head etc, even a rail road track makeshift anvil. Which ends up being so much more work and harder to move steel. Doesn't help develop proper techniques much either. A decent forge than get plenty hot in good time too and course a good proper set of tongs or more is important. Alternatively, you could always go more the stock removal route? This is my own personal preferred methodology most of the time, by far far far! And imho the far superior method, and capable of producing far superior knives and blades. For many reasons including its just better for the steel and doesn't produce all the negative effects that banging on steel with a hammer does. And importantly you're not limited to using just these old-world low alloy simple carbon steels or iron and can take full advantage of all of today's many many truly EXCELLENT high performance, high alloy, high chromium modern martensetic stainless tool and blade steels and the modern processes and technology to bring out every drop of potential from them! Seriously you likely won't hear this from many knifemakers... (largely because simple carbon steels are so cheap, readily available, easy to process and easy to heat treat to a passable state, far more easy on tools and equipment and quicker.... being soft and all... requiring far less knowledge and skill to work with and process and can be banged out easily, cheaply and quickly in a backyard shed with but a hammer, simple forge and anvil... not requiring all the specialised, complicated and expensive equipment or all the knowledge skill and experience necessary to work with modern performance steels! Not to mention people can and do often charge a premium price for cheap carbon steel and what is essentially a sub par steel and finished knife, often made with relatively unskilled labour. Good for knifemakers, bad for customers! In fact to be honest there's awhole lot of myth and downright scam around it all in the totally unregulated knifemaking world. And many have even been convinced that simple carbon steels and forged blades are actually somehow SUPERIOR to properly processed high performance modern stainless blades steels... which is downright silly in reality and if you made this claim in any other metal industry you'd be rightfully laughed out of there! 🤪 Alot of this is also due to mass production of cheap low grade knives using most always the absolute cheapest most crappy bottom of the barrel (barely) stainless steel in existence, with crap processing and heat treats to boot... steel that by rights has no business being used as a blade steel at all! Thus most people have never even used a good stainless steel blade, and after using those crappy mass produced knives then trying a custom simple carbon steel fired blade, it indeed would seem superior, and may actually even cut stiff haha, at least for a little while befire sharpening time, not much. :))) (Worse still in many cases it's caused not only widespread unhygienic practices but downright dangerous ones. Such as the use of rusty carbon steels and even carbon tool steels containing very dangerous alloys in kitchens and restaurants, things that should never be anywhere near food for human consumption!) Not to mention the frustration of spending eons making and producing a beautiful true mirror finish or whatever on a blade onky to look at it sideways and it turns into a pile of dirty brown rust haha! Anyway this is becoming a long rant haha. But maybe consider it anyway? I do believe learning forging is still worthwhile for a good knifemaker though and do do it time to time. Making abit of carbon Damascus or whatever. Also I understand that stock removal can seem more difficult and can require the use of especially a good knifemakers belt grinder and heat treating ovens, cryo etc.... but it too can be started and can produce food high quality knives easily and cheaply using only basic common shed tools. Files, I love files and have hundreds, sandpaper, drill etc etc. No forge even. Just if using good stainless you might have to send it off for a professional heat treat and wait a couple weeks for its return. (BTW I did start this way and learnt on carbon steel furst) Then you build up tools, skill and knowledge as you progress... and as you build a reputation for making and selling top quality knives especially stainless knives with little to no maintenance required, gets more beautiful finishes and stays that way indefinitely, and that are absolutely hair widdling sharp and can be counted on to literally stay that way for YEARS even with very heavy use as opposed to what, days, hours, minutes even with scs! Pretty much the first time you cut anything it's on it's way to dullville haha. As I say, night and day! Test me on that if you dare! 😁 Don't be overwhelmed though just take it slow and master the fundamental skills first as you go. Ps: personally my advice would be NOT to enter looking at knifemaking as some sort of full time career and sole bread winning occupation! There's rarely any good money in it and it is hard, taxing work.... and will then become a job and chore not a pssion!there's much easier more profitable ways to make money believe me, then you can offset that stuff with your knifemaking and stress relief like me haha, plus can afford any gear or steel or whatever that you want. While making abit of profit as bonus and many friends and Newfound satisfied knife enthusiasts!
Thanks Man, It was a lot of fun and I got to make 3 new awesome friends. I am glad this video helped out, I appreciate you watching and God Bless you and your family!
That is really cool, I always love hearing other countries names for different things, I have a customer who buys a lot of my knives in Germany. Working with reclaimed materials is one of my favorite things to do. I appreciate you watching!
Outta all my RR spike knives I made I always split the spike and layd a hammered out billit of 5160 or 01 .. and forge welded it like san'mi .. if your gonna make a knife and put all that work in it .. You want it to cut .not once but All the time . Good work BTW .
I normally do the same as well, I had considered doing that for this video but decided to do just a basic video for beginners, I hope to do one forge welding some 1095 into it one of these days. Thanks for watching I appreciate it!
@@Mysticmountainforge Take my word on this .a 10 series carbon steel is ok .but 75-85 -95 Is just to damn brittle . There is no Chrominum Moly exctra .. Dont get me wrong but years back I used 95 . It was like 5160 Cheap really cheap . But cheap = chip .. tri a chip of 5160. In one and 01 in another .. and keep them round use them in testing .for one year .
@@Mysticmountainforge When you are ready to learn a Highperformance heat trear method let be know .. its not worth a damn for the chip searies but 5160. O1 52100E . You cannot find a better heat treat method .. Look up shipley made knives Belton Texas. Nukcluar Knives ..
Nice knife.. I only made one RR spike knife but I was like you and the handle was not long enough for my hand. I like how you made that longer by drawing it out. I actually flattened my handle part down thin like the blade so I could put scales on the sides. I left the heel or head of the spike as a pummel. I put my wood in there and shaped it so wood scales were up against the head but was glued and pinned like a regular knife.. Well that is as good as I can make a knife. I am not a knife maker. Nice video.
Thanks! I have always wanted to try and put some wood scales on one, I will have to give that a go, it sounds like it would be a really good seller. Thanks for watching!
Thanks! It's awesome that your getting set up to start forging, it was the best decesion I ever made, i wished I would have done it earlier to be honest.
@@GarageMisadventures Right on, I don't know if you have an anvil yet, but you can get a real good one from www.centaurforge.com It's where I bought mine and it was less than 1/2 the cost of an old wore out one. Mine is a NC tool cavalry anvil and it has held up to everything from minor blacksmithing to full-on swordsmithing.
Mystic Mountain Forge, nice. I’ve just been picking up what I could locally. I got an older Kohlswa, and I’m supposed to meet a guy tomorrow to pick up a 161 lb Hay Budden. May be going about this all wrong, but it’s what I found available nearby.
@@GarageMisadventures That is awesome, I only bought mine because there wasn't any around where I live that people wasn't wanting an arm and a leg for. having a good anvil will make a huge difference in your work.
Love the knife. I just picked up a couple spikes from along side the RR. I went to watch you on Forged in Fire. It seems that it's not episode 29 of season 7. It is episode 24. Thought I would share so if someone is looking to watch. Also just subscribed to your channel. 2 thumbs up 👍👍
You're on Etsy from Oklahoma right? Saw your knives. Awesome! Randomly found this video, and it's you! I'm about to get a Devil Forge brand melting furnace for making copper, brass, aluminum, and silver bars. Now I'm looking into trying this. Or doing some trades😉. I'm up here in Kansas.
Thanks for watching, I appreciate it, Yep, I am in Oklahoma for now but will be relocating to Soldotna, Alaska in about 4 months. The champion from the episode of Forged in fire I was on is from Kansas, Emporia I believe, His name is Scott Powers, he is an amazing smith.
@@Mysticmountainforge cool! I'll look him up. I'm about to buy a double burner forge, and a railroad track as well. Can I buy from you directly instead of Etsy getting in the way?
Heat in a couple big ol' steel Nails near the Edge. They heat in and should add strength and edge retention. Heat, use a chisel make a groove, hammer nails lengthwise, along edge, heat Good, and finish as needed.
If I want my knife to be strong and razor sharp, what is the widest point to make the top of the blade, not the top part? I have always been dying to know haha!!! Also this is amazing :) well done!!!
Thanks! I usually like to go around 5/32 of an inch for the spine on a small knife with a large bevel almost to the spine, as for my cutting edge I like to have it in the ballpark of 0.1 to 0.2mm before putting the final edge on. Thank you for watching, I appreciate it!
Thanks, it was a tough break, thats the truth but it was an awesome experiance and I have 3 more lifelong bladesmith buddies from it now.I do plan on going back! I appreciate you watching!
Hey! My son is obsessed with you so I’m trying to find out about this blue light... is it heat resistant and water proof? Do you have a link to the items? I can’t get him enough information about this video fast enough. 🤪
I am a beginner blacksmith, I’ve made about four knives but don’t have a forge. If I heat up a knife with an oxy-acetylene torch and quench in diesel fuel what would that do?
Heating it up with a torch would work just fine but I wouldn't use diesel for a quench medium, ideally you would want something like parks 50 which is an oil made for knife making but cooking oil will also work for 10XX and 5160 steels. If you want to do Rr spikes knives water or a brine mixture made with water and some other thing, some say salt some say dish soap works best to harden them as much as possible but even then they won't get hard enough to be used as a serviceable knife. I hope this helps you out, and I appreciate you watching.
@@Mysticmountainforge Oh fabulous! I will subscribe & look for it. It will be interesting to see it done because of the 2 difference in steel. It would make really good cost effective knives. Im eager to see the forge welding of the two.
I wish it was an Alec Steele or Brian Brazeal forged hammer, I heard they handle awesome, this one was forged in Russia by Rovtar Forge, it was a father's day gift from my wife. Thanks for watching I appreciate it!
That's the truth! I do now, this is an older video before I started using it, great tip though I appreciate the feedback and I appreciate you watching!
Next one of these you make why not completely prep the surface of the handle with the belt sander first before you twist then all you have to clean off is forge scale and maybe some tiny dings from the tools used to twist it?
Late to the party but, love you videos (pretty sure I subscribed). You do a really good job! You explain well, quickly, and your presentation is just top notch. Will be looking at more of your videos.
This is my first time on the channel and the first thing is I'm not a professional but your anvil should be higher or else you could hurt yourself. But that knife is really freaking cool great job.
I appreciate you watching! You are 100 percent right! It is now, this is one of my older videos, I actually am not even living in that state anymore, I am now in Alaska. I had some bad advice given to me on anvil height placement and paid the price, I learned the hard way lol.
I would suggest a grizzly 1x30 or 1x42 if you are just starting out and on a limited budget, it's what I used for the first year I made knives. The exact model I owned can be found at: www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-1-x-42-belt-8-disc-combo-sander/h8192 If you have a more substantial budget, I would go with an Ameribrade www.ameribrade.com/2x48-grinder If you can get one with a VFD it makes everything a lot easier. I appreciate you watching.
Thanks! I tell everyone that wants one the same thing, the best place for a rr spike that doesn't have a high carbon bit welded in is on a shelf. They sell like crazy, I guess it's for the novelty of it. I appreciate you watching!
Need to really be cleaning the face of your anvil before hamering on your steel each time you take it out the forge. Great tutorial video for a RR spike knife..!
Thanks for watching, I appreciate it! That is something I am really making an effort to remember to do, I never really thought about it when I first started forging and even up until the past few months but now I try to do it each time.
These work well as a novelty item only, something to give as a gift or set on a shelf, to make them into a functioning knife they would need a piece of high carbon steel welded in, I plan on doing a video on it soon.
In the past I used an origin blademaker 2x72, currently I use a Brodbeck ironworks 2x72. Both have a 1.5hp motors and a variable frequency drive. Thanks for watching I appreciate it!
I have honestly never have understood why anyone would want a knife made from a railroad spike. They are terrible steel to begin with, they don't hold and edge they don't harden worth a flip and they are really only good for wall hangers. Oh, and they rust like crazy.
Forging practice is what I used them for mainly, the ones I made were for novelty decor. If you can forge a knife shaped object from a RR spike then you can do it with known steel. If you suck at forging and ruin it then your only out a couple of dollars or nothing at all because you found it.
By using the round portion of my hammer and the round surface on top of the horn it displaces material in the concentrated areas between where the two come together forcing the material to get longer. Doing this then hammering the edges and repeating it helps increase the length.
