I finally checked the hardness of my railroad track anvil

I've been using this old railroad track anvil for about 4 years now and always assumed it was fine. Last month I got curious after a buddy kept talking about his new London pattern one, so I looked up the Rockwell hardness specs for regular rail steel. Turns out most railroad track is only around 40-45 HRC, which is actually pretty soft for blacksmithing. I tested mine with a file set and yeah, it's way softer than I thought, probably why some of my punches keep skipping. Anyone else ever bothered to test their track anvil, or am I just overthinking this?

2 comments

2 Comments

max_ramirez481mo ago

Did you try hammering on it a bit first just to make sure it wasn't a bad day for the steel? I've got about 15 years on mine and I think I'd rather not know the truth at this point.

tyler_burns661mo ago

File testing is the only way to really know what you're working with. I did the same thing to a piece of scrap I'd been using and found out it was basically mild steel with a hard face that wore through in a couple spots. Ended up welding a hard facing rod on top and it's been fine ever since. Saved me from buying a new one.