This brings tears to my eyes. My late beloved father who worked 38 years for Southern Pacific made two anvils from scrap railroad track around 1953. I own one and my brother owns the other one. My plan now is to pass mine to my Great grandson. Thanks for the video.
My Grandpa worked for Southern Pacific for many, many years. Started I think in Oakland, went to Yuma, then Tucson.All the time I knew him, he worked out of El Paso with a turnaround and layover in Lordsburg. Loved hearing his stories, he had a heart attack on the train in Deming NM during a bad blizzard in 1967.
Nobody on RU-vid is half as good as this man. When I watch my mechanics I can’t watch other videos because they damage my feelings for this type of work. Extremely addictive mister my mechanic. You are born for this work my friend.
I completely agree with you. Out of all the hands on restoration RU-vidrs out there, My Mechanics is a cut above the rest. No one does the same quality level of work the way he does. His work is fantastic!
I am as good as he is. Been doing metal work all of my life. Blacksmithing, welding and machine shop work. I have restored many a anvil in my day. I do see what you are saying. Doing something like this out of a 2 car garage would be almost impossible.
I still have the old piece of RR track my grandfather used as an anvil.....rust and all......works just fine for me! Still have his old 6" vise too!....Btw, I'm 80 now and don't use them as much as I once did.
Love it, the excitement in this comment could’ve come from any age demographic (could’ve came from a 17yr old who lost his father at a young age), when I seent 80yrs old a huge smile came across my face.
I have all my dads old tools, he died when I was 9, I’m 30 now and his tools are my favourite possessions especially the old bench vice which I know he used a lot.
Rail is made from a manganese steel alloy. New rail has a radius at the top; as the trains wear it flat, the running surface becomes tougher, without being brittle. Therefore, find a worn piece of rail for the project, and avoid taking too much of the tough skin off the top to retain the durability.
You are a sculptor and artist for sure. Its beautiful. I believe "shop" should be included in high school curriculum to give everyone a taste of the possibilities working with hand tools. .
I agree. It seems that most of the videos on here the creator of the video get to thinking they are sound engineers. They have there sound effects louder than the content of the video. It's gotten so bad, if I click on a video and it's got it's boom booming crap for music. I just thumbs down and I'm gone.
didn't look like it was actually ever used for it's intended purpose, my grandpa used to have railroad tracks that where taken from a track that was actually used and then shut down and abandoned, when we finally got rid of it, decades later, the top surface was still free from rust (only the sides and the bottom had rust on them) and the top was so god damn hard that the angle grinder didn't even scratch it, we had to cut it from the bottom until we reached the hard part and then we dropped it on another railroad track to snap it off.
@@windhelmguard5295 I've never really thought about that. I can't imagine how many thousands of tons of steel would boulder over a track every day in a busy area. Thanks for your story!
I love the tips for other machines, just in case someone else finds an old rail in their shop and decides to make a small anvil but doesn't have a milling machine or a sandblaster 😂
The base has more flat area surface,I flipped mine over ,welded to work bench, really much more useful...for my needs .... doesn't look as perrty though
To everyone saying this isn’t a simple DIY, I managed to make a similar anvil (while much less pretty) using almost the same process just wayyyyyy cheaper (lot more files, sandpaper and hacksaw blades) but none of it is necessarily complex work it’s just labor intensive. If you’re bored, stuck in the house like most of the world right now it’s a FANTASTIC project that’ll keep you occupied for hours and you’ll get even more hours of use out if it once it’s done. You could even take a foot long section of rail and literally just sand and file the edges and you basically have an anvil. Most of what this legend of mechanics is doing is really high level cosmetic stuff to add to the beauty and functionality of the anvil when in all reality you don’t really NEED the horn on the end or the hardy hole or even the beautifully sanded and blued finishes. Just something heavy and sturdy that can take a beating (polishing the top surface of the anvil will lead to slightly less marring on whatever it is you’re working with but again it’s all cosmetic) and you gotta great tool that’ll last years! And shouts out to the man himself for making such a quality video (as always)
Several blacksmiths have commented that the best way to use a rail as an anvil is to turn it on end and polish that surface, mount the rail in a stump with that face up (essentially the end of the rail) and use that as your striking surface. That way you preserve the total mass of the rail to absorb your blows. Otherwise, to make it pretty, you are removing almost half the mass.
Luke Kelchner A neighbor had a father so cheap that when he built a summer cabin, he did so out of material scavenged from houses that were being torn down in town (even down to plumbing and wiring). So my neighbor was often given the task of hammering bent nails straight that were either picked up off the ground at the demolition sites or pulled from boards being salvaged for reuse! The ‘anvil’ for this purpose was a chunk of rail about the same size my mechanics started with. (And before you ask, the neighbor is gradually replacing the wiring and plumbing in the cabin with new material as his ongoing remodeling allows).
You would be better off looking for a anvil. You put all that work into it and still will not have anything that is workable unless you are just wanting a paperweight. Find an old anvil and restore it instead.
@@butchmonster8031 yes if you are lucky it might sell for $20.00 at a flea market. Instead find an old anvil and restore it. I bought a 200# Peter Wright anvil last year for $150.00 and did some work on the face of it and sold it for $1100.00. There are a lot of old anvils to be had if you know how to look for them. I can take $600.00 and turn it into $4000.00 easy.
This guy gets my sub for TWO reasons: 1. He actually turned a railroad track into a DECENT anvil 2. He does NOT scrub his files. Its so rare to see someone use metal files correctly these days. Normally people just scrub them back-and-forth, wrecking them for no reason. Excellent video... subbed.
Hand mada Anvil . Very strong and beautiful . 45 years back I saw these kind of workin FARIDABAD . I left India 40 years ago . Today when I saw this recollected my old memories . God Bless you Man .
You can do it with just an angle grinder and files. Hard part would be getting the surface perfectly flat, don't think you can compete with the end mill there.
if My Mechanics was a super hero, Sharp Edges would be hit nemesis. "You think you can hide in the mounting holes on the bottom of my anvil Sharp Edges?! Think again!!"
For this project you'll need: 1 segment of railroad track you found in your shop 1 infinite supply of abrasive discs 1 metric Saint's worth of patience (for Americans that don't have access to a European Saint, 1 ton of elbow grease can be substituted, but it must be grade 2 or better) And a vertical mill. ;)
25 seconds in and I'm already thinking poor blokes cutting this with a grinder. Sympathy quickly went out the window at 2:30 when he whips out his f***ing milling machine.
My thoughts exactly, the hours grinding is a labor of love, not something for old men compared to just buying an anvil for far less labor. But you get exactly what you want if you make it yourself. I've made a lot of different anvils in my time, they are a priceless tool and a necessity for any shop.
"Got no milling machine?" Come on guys, who doesn't have a 6 axis 480V 3 phase milling m/c in their home garage? We don't need angle grinders anymore :P
the way he was able to cut through the top with an angle grinder tells me that the piece used here was never actually used on a functional railroad track. you see trains going over the track continue to cold harden the top over and over again, a piece of railroad that has been used for a while gets so god damn hard at the top that most angle grinder discs will disintegrate on it without leaving more than a couple scratches.
I feel like most people wouldn't realize how much time actually went into cutting that railroad track. Great job to dude, I remember how long it took to cut through solid mild steel like that when my brother and I made one...
I cut a piece today on the horizontal bandsaw took about 5 mins ,plasma cut the big bits out the way, on the mill tommorow for flatting the surface.Keep the off cuts for forgework
Awesome Job!! Some of you don’t understand the satisfaction of a job well done. I had a paint and body shop and taking a pile of dented metal and making it look like new again does a body good Keep on grinding 👍
I really wish my Dad could have seen this. We had a stick of railroad rail and used it for anything “anvil-like” but he would have loved to see this project.
I have two cast steel anvils in the shop, a 450lb and a 140lb....and a 2 foot length of rail track on the workbench, which still gets used surprisingly often.
Теперь можно поставить на полочку под стекло как экспонат )) ну и оооочень редко можно загнуть гвоздик , затем срочно снова убрать на полочку что бы не испортилось изделие ручной работы ,этт ведь такая красота 😊👍
Me too, while I love the look of it, I really don’t see a practical use for a typical homeowner DYI’er. I have a large vise with a hammering pad on it. Served my purposes for 30 years.
It's just unfortunately not rust proof :/ However, oxidized aluminum has the same surface texture (albeit with a much, much softer look) and that won't rust
По моему скромному мнению основание надо было оставить подлиньше, возможно даже почти во всю длину готовой наковальни. Готовый продукт радует глаз, у мастера золотые руки.
I agree with you I have a 22inch anvil made out of railroadtrack and the base is 20" it works awesome I've had it since I was 21 years old now 56 bought it from a man that was 75 he built it in the late 50's its so handy and pings great
sometimes my attention was divided between the end product and the battalion of precision tools that you have ;) so clean, organized and precise...only in my dreams i can have those :)
FOR THOSE wondering how in the heck they could do the flattening operation with an angle grinder, here's how. 1. Place anvil on a flat surface. 2. Secure it down, and add two pieces of wood that are the same height, and parallel on two planes. (alternatively, you can buy some cheapo plastic window sill, cut it in half) place the two pieces on both sides of the track, they have to have the finish height of the anvil so make sure to measure that properly. 3. using the handle screws found on most angle grinders, make a jig that makes sure the rotating stone (buy the cheapest grinding cup stone you can find) is flat on the surface of the track. 4. move grinder back and forth until the cup grinder no longer engages with the face. 5. profit. you can repeat the same process for the sides. using a cup grinder wheel your angle grinder will also allow you to make the rounded portions of the anvil.
Still isn't flat. Tack weld tie to bench Take single cut file and hold a end in each hand drag file towards yourself over surface, repeat. No sanding needed will just wreck finish.
Next video: I turn a Railroad Track into an Anvil, using only hand tools Edit. Question: what's the purpose of that hole in the top surface of the anvil? I'd say, most of anvils I've seen have it.
So you can hammer a hole into whatever you're working, for example for a bottle opener :D You'd place a fairly thin piece of metal over the hole, and punch a hole through the metal with a very hard steel pointed chisel, something along those lines
Traditional anvils had a square hole used to hold various forming tools that had a square tapered shank such as a vertical blade for cutting or a two pronged piece for bending.
@Egor - In response to your question, Wikipedia provides the following information: The hardy hole is a square hole into which specialized forming and cutting tools, called hardy tools, are placed. It is also used in punching and bending operations. The pritchel hole is a small round hole that is present on most modern anvils. Some anvils have more than one. It is used mostly for punching. At times, smiths will fit a second tool to this hole to allow the smith more flexibility when using more than one anvil tool.
Where I live they make a trail from all rail roads if your wondering where it’s Ruth N.C. they was just going to sell as scrap it all for 10 cent a pound I told them I’m a scraper and took 600 pound of it pretty cool Ah btw I’m not a scraper I just wanted a rail road
I did this, and tracks are impossible to cut. I was cutting mine with a massive gas powered saw with a steel blade and it took forever. So much so the neighbor came to see what I was doing... Every video Iv'e watched makes it look like butter.
I really wish one of these guys making anvils from train track would rebound test them once they're finished. Be super interesting to compare with purpose forged/cast models.
You might not confuse it with a real anvil which is usually moulded, hardened and a lot more stronger than normal steel. Really nice looking anvil and good craftsmanship!
Railroad track is hardened steel. There are warnings about not using rail sections for the beam of a hydraulic log splitter because if it fails it will 'shatter' sending shards and shrapnel everywhere.
It does get annoying, I restore train cars and parts... one day I had to cut a vestibule door to size and cutting through sheet metal and wood got really tiring
@@mymechanicsinsights can you confirm my assumption that this piece was never in use as a railroad track? because i have experienced the displeasure of trying to cut used railroad track with an angle grinder and in my experience the cold forged top surface gets so hard that most angle grinder discs just don't even put a dent in it.
Dude you have patience of steel grinding through something that thick, me over her grinding 16 gage and I think that takes long 😂 beautiful piece of work
I made one of these years ago, got a full 6'long piece so I cut 18" off to make an anvil, took me over an hour and 2 chop saw blades. Not only is it thick, it's also high carbon.
Recently found one of these my dad had made when he was young man. He didn’t have the best tools when making it but it is still quite useful in the shop.
You guys that are whining about him using a Mill and a Drill Press need to get a life. You can do everything he did here just using a hacksaw, file and handheld drill. Take too long you say? Takes too much effort you say? Then either man-up, go out and buy some tools or buy the Anvil already done...
