Thread: What are you working on?

outback: Cleaning up a piece of railroad track, for a better pinning anvil

Hey....................I've got one just a tad longer than that!!!



Mine is an exact 6" long.

Just a 4 1/2"
Damn is this stuff hard.
A file only seems to remove the rust.
Have to put the grinder to it, then a DA sander to 400 grit, then i might be able to buff it out.
Haha, like restoring a blade.
But with power tools

Manchu archery thumbring. Timber prototype before my moose antler arrives.

Originally Posted by outback

Just a 4 1/2"
Damn is this stuff hard.
A file only seems to remove the rust.
Have to put the grinder to it, then a DA sander to 400 grit, then i might be able to buff it out.
Haha, like restoring a blade.
But with power tools

While my smaller bit of very hard steel that was my Dad's 'field anvil' is quite smaller than yours. I will tell you that you've got your work cut out for you.

I took mine to a machine shop and they leveled both sides on their milling machine and that cut out the deep gouges. I then took it home and went to work with a file. After hours of using the file, I was finally able to go to a sander with 220 Wet-n-dry and then progress to 2K.

I 'Think' that a portable belt sander could be substituted for the milling machine since your 'track' is curved.

I highly stress that your final finish should be 'Highly' Polished! As any imperfections in the anvil/track will be imparted into the pin or what ever you are working on.

I'd post a picture but I installed Windows 10 and can't figure out how to do that!

Originally Posted by outback

Just a 4 1/2"
Damn is this stuff hard.
A file only seems to remove the rust.
Have to put the grinder to it, then a DA sander to 400 grit, then i might be able to buff it out.
Haha, like restoring a blade.
But with power tools

I plan on making a smoother surface on mine one day in the future but it works for now. I do my finish peening on a 1" square x 10" keystock.

I used a 3" belt sander with a blue 80grit belt to get the surface smooth and then a vibrating sander from there. Watch the belt though, it can make a nasty gouge if it gets a bit loose in your hand.
The rails do make nice anvils though. I gave one to my son.
Have fun!
~Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

I used a 3" belt sander with a blue 80grit belt to get the surface smooth and then a vibrating sander from there. Watch the belt though, it can make a nasty gouge if it gets a bit loose in your hand.
The rails do make nice anvils though. I gave one to my son.
Have fun!
~Richard

I plan on doing similar. I'm going to take my time & lightly hit it on my belt sender & then probably like you said Richard, with a vibrating sander & from there to the polisher.

The track will work great. They sand and polish quite nice.

Manchu archery thumbring. Timber prototype before my moose antler arrives.

Nice! I saw a jade thumbring in an antique store once. It was exactly the shape you are working. Seeing the thumbring later sent me on a jade inquiry and clarified the difference between jadeite and nephrite.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Manchu archery thumbring. Timber prototype before my moose antler arrives.

Thats pretty cool, not that im in to jewelry.
The antler should come out even better.
? Isn't a thumb ring a sign that your somebody's slave, at least thats what i remember. From history writings.
Still cool.
Suppose a gauge is in the works next