![]() ![]() One such object that you may not have thought much about is the railroad spike. Many people enjoy taking uncommon objects and making practical tools out of them. (The Tuyere, newsletter of the Illinois Valey Blacksmith Association) With this in mind, be aware of a higher carbon content and work with the material accordingly. The spikes are barely heat treatable and won't hold an edge very long. 80% that we would usually call high carbon. HC on a railroad spike does not necessarily mean high carbon, it may mean highway crossing, and these spikes need to be stronger for this part of the track. In seasoned oak, another experimenter needed 4,281 pounds. Early experiments showed that pulling out a 9/16″ × 9/16″ spike driven 4¼" inches into dry cedar required on average a force of 857 pounds. A spike with the wedge driven across the grain will have about twice as much holding power as one driven with the grain. Its square cross section gives a railroad spike much higher holding strength than a fastener having the same amount of metal but a circular cross section has roughly speaking, about 50% more. ![]() The wedge is driven into the tie across the grain, that is, parallel to the track. The spikes used to fasten T-shaped railroad track to wooden ties have an L-shaped head and a square shank.
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