In this episode of Knife Steel… or Not, we’re putting railroad spikes to the test to answer the classic question:
Can you harden it?

Railroad spikes come in two official grades — “Low Carbon” and “HC.” But even the HC spikes are only around 0.30% carbon at best, which means they don’t behave like true high-carbon knife steels. Whether they can harden enough for blade work depends entirely on how much carbon they kept over their lifetime under stress.

In this test, we walk through the essential blacksmithing steps:
• heating
• quenching
• grain inspection
• file test
• break test

If you’re into forging, blacksmithing, bladesmithing, steel testing, or knife making, this episode shows exactly what a railroad spike can (and cannot) do when put under real heat-treat conditions.

Welcome back to Rusty Hammer Forge.
#ForgeOn

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Railroad Spike Steel / HC Spike (0.30% Carbon Max) / Low Carbon Spike (0.20% Carbon Max) / AISI Approx. 1030 Equivalent / Manganese Alloy 0.75–1.35%

#blacksmith  #bladesmithing  #forging   #ForgeOn