I think you need to adjust your terminology. It is rail not a tie. The tie is placed below the rail in the rail bed.

John, On your fixture plate with the tapped holes. What we use to do is buy a bag of the appropriate sized corks to fit the tapped and reamed holes. Push the corks into the holes just proud of the top surface. Take a single edge razor blade and trim them off flush wit the top surface. Than when you need to use one of the holes take a cork screw and remove that cork. (if your careful you can even reuse the cork) This keeps the chips out of the holes so when you blow air the don't fly in your face also you can just brush off the table without shavings going down the holes. It takes a little time to install all the corks but after, you only remove and reinstall the ones your using. You could use socket set screws but you still have the socket to catch shavings. Also the corks are soft so if they slightly are above the surface they will compress. We at one time had a Hurco BMC 40 with a very large aluminum fixture plate like yours With hundreds of holes and this worked really well.

Not to nit pick but isn't that a bit of track or rail not a tie? I always thought the tie was the wood bits that the tracks ran on.... Thanks for the video by the way.

I have a little railroad track anvil for my super-amateur attempts at blacksmithing, works great! A lotta folks will tell you they're not ideal, but these are the best option until you make the jump to a several hundred dollar real anvil, in my opinion at least! I wish mine was half that pretty looking! The rail steel is super hard, supposedly Norinco 1911 frames were made out of the stuff and that's part of the reason they are typically coveted

Nice to see you guys doing some projects for the home hobbyist in addition to your commercial work.

railroad rails have many, many years of development behind the design. They are somewhat hardened on the top wear surface but softer/tougher below on the web.

the dome shape doesn't hinder blacksmithing, it actually makes the forging process faster, the round face increases the PSI and focuses the kinetic energy of the blow of the hammer, moving the metal much more than a flat face. if it was a long enough piece id leave half of it rounded on the face and blend it into a horn while the other half milled flat from the halfway point towards where the hardy hole would go, this way you would have the round as the main forging face and flat for planishing or straightening. either way good video and the finished piece looks really nice!

hi John, to get the rail anvil i made to not ring and also not bounce around, i added a bunch of additional steel to the base of it. about twice the mass of the piece of rail itself. then also i mounted it on a wood block.. the block weighs 200lbs cheers mike

Great video John, Phil and I have a chunk of this and thinking about doing the same but was not sure how it would act in his CNC, now we know! Thanks buddy, looking forward to seeing you at the Bash! Regards, Ray

This is really helpful, as I'm working on the same project. My boss lets me use the mill after work, I just have to provide the tools. Was using a half-inch carbide endmill. A little slower, but getting good results. Took me a while to figure out my speeds and feeds.

Judd always bring a smile to my face.

Great video, awesome professional finish.

I made one of those a few years ago to make knives on and it is a great little anvil. I should probably do a video on that... Anyway, what I ran into was the ring and bounce due to weight, or lack thereof. I welded in thick steel plates in the web of mine, then used some fire bricks and a weed burner to heat the top up to non-magnetic and quenched in water, then heated it back up to a light straw. Works great.

Interesting stuff :-) When you were visiting your friend's shop, a few episodes back, I mentioned my uncle Angus, who was a "Forge Welder"... That's a "Blacksmith". He's going to need a square hole toward the back for bending steel... Anvils are generally Cast, with the hole built in. Looks like a great job anyway :-) The reason for the Horn at the front is to make Horse shoes of various sizes... A Blacksmith was usually a Farrier as well... It's a whole different world...

That little piece of track looked big in your machine! Sometime soon I still have to make a trip to West Virginia to pick up some more rail for my crane as it rolls on the same type stuff only smaller, mine is 40lb/yd rail.

I've had one of those for years and I've always wanted to machine it flat on the top too. maybe one day I'll hit up James Greene and we'll make a video.

Hey John a typical wheel for general purpose grinding is 46H and make sure you always dress the wheel. But don't dress it too fine at first. If it has a coarse look to it that will help keep the heat down and keep an eye on the spark trails on the wheel. If your grinding on both sides traveling front to back then back to front and If you get spark trails in middle of the wheel or sound pitch changes redress the wheel a loaded up wheel will not help you lol. Yes railroad track material can be very hard lol. Dressing the wheel sharpens it. A dull wheel don't cut good and finish and accuracy suffer. other than that take it slow and easy till you get comfortable no big cuts till you know exactly what it's gonna do. That should help for most parts you grind just remember 46H wheels are general purpose wheels and most common.

When I lived in UK I was promised a section of rail to use as an anvil but it never materialized. Now I live in a country with no railways so no chance of getting a hold of any rail. No heave anvils to come by either. Sheep are too soft ;-)

The trick is machining the hardy hole! Nice video.

Nice work shop very nice!👍👍👍

I really enjoy these videos alot! :)

Good job! You are correct over years of use the rails work harden, you got lucky, some of them eat tools for breakfast.

Rail is a mild open hearth steel. It might work harden a bit, but you need to weld a layer of good hard electrode on top to get a good anvil surface.

I've had one for years. They are great. Just a note, it's a piece of rail not a tie. The tie is the wooden thing the rails set on.

I tried to look through the comments to see if it was mentioned, but I couldnt see. The surface would ideally be slightly concave, as that aids in getting things flat. I do agree that flat is much better than convex however!

Oh, it would be cool to have a friend like you !

Well I sure wished I would have had your equipment when I made my rail anvil it was about 2 feet long and I welded 2 of them side by side so it was kind of large then I capped it off with 1" AR 500 plate.

5:30 nice abom 79 shirt

That neat. I did one with a Bosch angle grinder in a jig. I was wondering why you didn't flip it over after you got a good flat spot on the top and true up the bottom with the mill. That would have been nice when you put it on the grinder. 😃

Very cool I liked this one and I did not fall asleep 👌🏻

Hey guys this is a piece of RAIL not a tie. As Randy Richard said a tie is what holds the rails in place. They can be wood(usually), concrete, steel. or even some sort of manufactured composite. The rail is a high carbon steel usually not hardened though some rail is hardened or at least head hardened for wear resistance for specific locations. Welding the stuff can be done because many miles of railroad track are laid with welded rail. Welding the rails together is done at a plant with automated equipment to achieve 1/4 mile long strings which are then taken to the location to be laid by a train. After being laid in the track the ends are welded together with a thermite process or a portable electric welding machine mounted on a truck which is fitted with rail wheels to travel on the track. Most welding plants use electric welding machines but a few a oxy-acetylene. Rails are rolled so that the tops are an arc. Rails have been rolled from 8 lb/yd to 155 lb/yd. That is 1 & 9/16 in high to over 8 in high. Crane rails go from 105 lb/yd to 175 lb/yd but they have flat tops for double flanged wheels and meant for very high wheel loads. Modern rails are loaded to about 33000 lbs per wheel under 100 ton rail cars. That is starting to go into the plastic deformation area of the stress/strain curve of the steel which means that when the load is removed the steel does not totally return to it's preloaded shape. Mr. Gerbracht is wrong that railroads just discard hundreds of miles of rail every year as they get too worn. Rails are removed from track because of defects inside the rails. The railroads do replace or lay new rail each year to replace worn rail but that rail is usually taken to secondary, branch lines or yard tracks to be used to replace lighter rail there. This lighter rail is then sold to scrappers and is either melted down or made into rebar. Yes a lot of track has concrete ties but wood ties still are the most used tie in track. Steel ties are impractical in signaled track. If I had the width of the base, height before milling, width of the head, and the thickness of the web, I probably could tell you what the weight/yd is. The height of the head would possibly help.

I was looking into making an anvil like that at one point and holy crap you guys got lucky . i've seen a lot of videos and heard horror stories where those things are made out of air hardening steel or have just work hardened to the point where they destroy and burn through tools like mad . That looks really soft for a piece of railroad rail .

Possible better source would be to search for "railroad track salvage". Last century, I bough 4 14" sections from a local place. They had literally miles of track, thousands of old ties, railroad cars etc. $ 5.00 each and small tip to the guy who helped. I got to pick which I wanted. Yes, the tops need to be hardened. Think spray welding then then re-machining.

There are tons of rail anvils out there in use. That piece has been annealed or a file would skate on it.

I milled one snd it was crazy hard. I just annealed it and will try s as again

I have made 2 of these railroad track anvils for freinds (I have a nice 110yr old, 125lb Fisher anvil). Finding an unused section that was not work hardened is a mixed blessing. On one hand, a real anvil HAS a hardened surface and will not get dented up with errant hammer blows. Used track is work hardened which gives you a better approximation of a real anvil. The bad side is that you can't machine hardened track (I have the broken milling cutters to prove it). Used track is typically shaped with a big Oxy/Acetylene torch and grinding wheels and cutters. The unhardened track is obviously machinable, but the top will quickly become dented up from use, and more of the hammer blow will be absorbed by the Anvil (instead of the workpiece). You might consider welding a 1" plate of hardened steel to your machined top. I have seen a few people do this. An anvil is a handy thing to have around any shop. Even a CNC shop.

Great video! kind of aggressive on the cut but you got it done without breaking the tool! I noticed the finish on the rail at the end and its actually way too good for an anvil surface. Once your friend takes a hammer to it on the very first day you'll never know it was ground. IF you want to get a better finish on you grinds put the wheel on a good balancer and once you do that recut the wheel with a diamond dresser you'll be amazed at the finish after that

is there an video of the automatic tool changer? would love to see it and the install of it :D

Great video as always. I was wondering though, why do you think you had to shim the rail when you put it on the surface grinder? Shouldn't the facing on the mill made the top parallel to the bottom?

That's a railroad track, ties are the wood cross members

I hear you use the term railroad tie but it's actually the rail you are dealing with there. The railroad tie is actually the wooden piece the goes in between the rails. I believe they make them from other materials as well.

John, What method do you use to establish your tool heights? Do you have an presetter?

Just a note, from a former professional Blacksmith, (www.stokesofengland.com) that is a rail road rail. The rail road ties are the creosote soaked wooden blocks that are in the gravel (ballast) bed of the rail road. Harbor Freight sells perfectly fine anvils. We have one in our shop and I use it all the time. Nothing is better than "Heat and Beat" technology.

I'm no expert but that is a piece of rail the ties are the peaches of wood that go between the tracks

Not to be overly anal, but it is a railroad "rail". The ties are the wood pieces the rails are attached to that "tie" the rail together to maintain the spacing and provide support. New ties are of course steel or concrete (very few new ones are wood). Railroads discard hundreds of miles of rail every year as they get too worn (or they are supposed to... Amtrac...). Rails are specified by weight in lbs/yard. Standard mainline rail is 130lb or heavier with typical siding rail at 112 lb/yard (might help to figure out your anvil weight)

Why didn't you cut the bottom of the rail as well?

Does anyone know if it is possible to harden something like this using a propane/oxy torch or similar rather than using a heat treating oven? Alternatively, the work-hardened used track might be a better option for anvils, even if harder to machine.

So do you harden it after milling?

I heard that the anvils made of steel rails are ringing really loud, because their dampening properties are weaker than those of cast iron. Also, do they need hardening? I think, they wouldn't stay flat long otherwise.

Pick up some of the Harbor Freight magnets stick to the anvil, also a section of chain wrapped around,both help quiet the ring.

If he truly wants it "flat" he could hand scrap it.... 😜

love the abom shirt!!

In terms of the amount of material removed VS price of the bit, i assume machining it is cheaper than just grinding it?

with that finish of the grinder you might want to check the wheel for runout it looks like it was skipping over the part a little i always touch the wheel lightly with my finger before i start it should feel smooth

hey john! are you are planning on doing a special WW100???

Thank you for that info on the sparks. Now I don't need to soil my pants every time I see one! Oh and a railroad track has rail on top of wooden ties

great vid thumbs up my coworker is getting into smithing and his rr rail isnt near that flat

IS THAT A VIZSLA!!?? Best pups ever!

I have an 18" piece of RR track on Craigslist right now :) 4/25/17

I've got 20 foot of rail" may have a go, I see Sir Tom Liptom uses one on his bench👍 keep em coming, have you looked @ this old Tony's channel? Great camera work.

Nice idea. Good work. Just one little observation though, it looks like you need to balance your wheel on the surface grinder, the finish looks a little bumpy to me.

looks like a great grind on the face. However. it is railroad track. The tie is the wooden pieces that hold the tracks true

it works great, a real anvil is expensive and a piece of railroad you can get cheap or even for nothing, never had mine flattend because I could not find someone who could do that for me unless I wanted to pay big bucks

They have miles and miles of it by where I live I think it goes on forever so I loaded up my cutting torch and found a spot where I could just drive to cause skip carrying that stuff and I only cut out a 3 foot section but I bet they dont even miss it.. hehe

I'm actually doing this EXACT project today!

could / should / can you harden / heat treat that surface to make it more durable?

Actually, railroad TIES are made out of wood. What you have is railroad RAIL. Other than that, with a little hard face welding, makes a terrific small anvil.

Kewl! I'll take one!

I like the voice command on the camera.. Focus ! :D

FYI that is a section of railroad rail and not a tie. A tie is a simply a piece of wood that has been coated with creosote that is laid upon a bed of gravel called ballast and then the rail is attached to the tie via a tie plate and four spikes.

Sorry Brother... kinda late to the show, but how does Jeremy like it now? I just obtained a piece of track to make an anvil and am very confused about the importance of flattening the face... a lot of mixed emotions. Did it hold up well?

Well... Now I've got to flatten my hunk of rail out or I'll feel like I'm using a substandard beating post. I'll get my file warmed up!

I've always wondered... are the shots intentionally framed to have the dog in the background or does that just happen? ;)

Railroad ties are known as sleepers in which goes beneath the tracks.

Mate, putting a surface ground finish on the top surface of an anvil is, perhaps, overkill. Jeremy is going to put red-hot metal on that surface and then beat seven kinds of shit out of it, with the biggest hammer he can find, which will rapidly ruin all your beautiful work in a matter of minutes. :( But hey, congratulations on producing an anvil with the FINEST flat-top surface in the whole of the USA. Jeremy should have it hardened. Better yet, he should frame it and put it on his lounge-room wall... I do like what you do. :)

looked like a job for the Bridgeport.

That def looks a lot better than when he brought it in.

Gee John you have a couple of guys working for you with beards that would make "The Kelly Gang" proud.

What should someone expect to pay for a job like this?

So wish I had an anvil the other half was going to buy me one. And yes reality set in when she saw how much they are even used.

Why not climb mill in both directions?

those things are HARD as hell if they have been used emagine all the years of work hardening from trains rolling over as he said i have a 4 foot length of used track and a hammer will bounce aw doggie wants some love

tie, rail... who cares. I don't know why I liked that video so much. really cool. love that surface grinder too

Watching videos like this makes me wonder how many people actually looked at the comments before commenting themselves. I mean how many times are they going to be told that it's rail not a tie.

What's the point of an ultra flat anvil that's soft? Anvils generally have a very hard top, they should skate a sharp file. Hey, maybe it work-hardens.

Here I thought you might be able to grind it but not machine it; I guess they're softer (on the inside anyway) than I thought.

There's a lot of wisdom behind that red beard.

how did you afford to get started.

Hey John, there you go again! Doing favors for friends. Your alright.

I noticed a ham radio ad at the beginning; are you a ham?

I'd speculate it was annealed in a bonfire before it was cut, I've seen guys burn up grinding discs trying to chop up scrap rail.

John File handle is a requirement Stuart

I should have read the comments before I responded. Randy was correct.

What do you mean " absolutely no justifiable reason,"?! Because you can is a good enough reason!

with all due deference to your machining skills, why oh why would you take off the work hardened surface?

Not tie, just a piece of Rail. Ties are the wooden cribs the rail lays on.

Go for a thick to thin chip formation next time. Read all that Sandvik literature you just picked up 😉

One day I'm going to bite the bullet and get one of those!

anvil shaped like object i think youll find others calling it all good tho i have 2 . i find you can find them if your not looking for 1 but soon as you seek 1 forget it buy it wile you can see or wait forever

That piece of stock is NOT a "railroad tie"...It is a piece of mainline rail...the tie is the wooden crosspiece which "ties" the rails together...