Today I MADE

davsgold said:

The forge is getting another workout today, I made this from a Railway Spike (Dog Spike) it is a "Butter Knife" for camping/cooking etc

Lots of heating and hammering and twisting involved in this project

The finished Butter Knife
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cheers dave

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Wow, looks terrific, could that steel be honed to a sharp edge Dave? I imagine that dog spike steel has a high carbon content.

Bora68 said:

Wow, looks terrific, could that steel be honed to a sharp edge Dave? I imagine that dog spike steel has a high carbon content.

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thanks Bora68, the dog spikes are not very high carbon content steel, just a bit higher than mild steel and there more a novelty item than a practical use item but look neat. It has a sharp edge, but it will not hold an edge for long and would need re sharpening often. Being a "Butter Knife" the butter is not going to dull the edge for a very long time.

They do respond to heating up to very red hot and quenching in oil, I use Canola Oil or you could use old mineral motor oil and then do a tempering, but that is maybe not essential, as the railway spikes are not going to harden anywhere near as much as a true high carbon steel.

another railway spike project, this time a small axe (Viking Axe) camp tomahawk, I started this a couple of days ago and finished it today

plenty of heating in the forge and hammering to get it to a shape that looks ok.


the finished project




before the handle


the starting point, this is how the railway spike is to begin with

cheers dave

That is a cracker mate. Ingenious use of a spike. Well Done. Mackka

Great work Dav.

I made up a shovel to go on the braided twist handle I made up a little while back, now I have three fireplace tools and I reckon I'll need a stand soon to hang them on.

The braided twist handle to go on the shovel

the completed fireplace shovel


the three fireplace tools together with three different types of twisted handles

cheers dave

Looks good Dav.

I made a hot punch this morning to punch a hole through hot metal that has been heated red hot.

the hot punch is made from a round section Railway clip straightened out and shaped, annealed, then sanded to clean up the cutting end and then quenched in oil and tempered (heat treated and tempered)

One of these clips heated and straightened

turned onto this hot cut punch

tried it out on this 25x5 flat to punch a hole to fit another piece of 25x5 flat through

also just finished another Viking Axe Mk2 tomahawk camp axe, just have to fit a handle




cheers dave

Grey Panner said:

Not sure how long that Chevron Twist handle is but with a case-hardened right angled spike at the bottom end it would make a magnificent crevicing tool.

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I made up a Crevicing tool this morning, I put a basket twist handle on this one instead of the Chevron twist as you actually get a better grip on the handle with this basket twist

The handle is made from 6mm round mild steel and the scratcher is 5160 spring steel the whole thing is quenched in oil and tempered so I think the connection from mild steel to the spring steel should be ok under normal use anyway

The whole thing is 360mm (14") from end to end

The Crevice tool with the basket twist handle


cheers dave

Mate the nuggies will be jumping out of their secret locations just to get scraped by that beautiful tool. Fantastic and giving Baz a run for his money. Love the skills Dave. Cheers Mackka

thanks Mackka, I think it should do the job ok, and Baz does a magnificent job with the things he makes, Baz has a very impressive line up of things he makes including the Crack Scratcher.

cheers dave

Well now I have a letter opener, a butter knife, and now a steak knife

All made from 5160 spring steel hardened and tempered

this is the 3rd one and I just finished it today, the Viking steak knife


1st, 2nd and 3rd

cheers dave

Looks good mate but how does it feel in the hand? Mackka

Mackka said:

Looks good mate but how does it feel in the hand? Mackka

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They feel comfy and usable, and being made from steel that is hardened and tempered they will keep an edge and stay sharp, so quite functional as a camping type knife.



cheers dave

Good O mate. Cheers

I made up crevice tool Mk2 today it turned out ok as well, should be handy pieces of kit I reckon

Crevice Tool Mk2




Both Crevice tools side by side a his and a hers

cheers dave

Wont be long and our metal detectors will be turning up Viking relics in Australia

davsgold said:

I made up crevice tool Mk2 today it turned out ok as well, should be handy pieces of kit I reckon

Crevice Tool Mk2
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Both Crevice tools side by side a his and a hers
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cheers dave

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I do a lot of crevicing and I have never seen better crevicing tools.
Great job.

davsgold said:

another railway spike project, this time a small axe (Viking Axe) camp tomahawk, I started this a couple of days ago and finished it today

plenty of heating in the forge and hammering to get it to a shape that looks ok.


the finished project
View attachment 8792

View attachment 8793

before the handle
View attachment 8794

the starting point, this is how the railway spike is to begin with
View attachment 8795
cheers dave

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That is stunning fella. How do you form the hole for the handle? Also incredible that the broad blade part came just from the end of dog spike. You would have been in huge demand in the Viking days or a price placed on uour head .Great work.

Bora68 said:

That is stunning fella. How do you form the hole for the handle? Also incredible that the broad blade part came just from the end of dog spike. You would have been in huge demand in the Viking days or a price placed on uour head .Great work.

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g'day Bora68, the hole "eye" for the handle is hot cut through with a hot cut chisel and a hot punch, once the hole is through and opened up a bit you use a "Drift" that is the shape of the eye you want it fit the handle to, all this is done at a high heat

Yes it is amazing that the dog spike will forge out that much, and to begin with I hammer the end of the dog spike in towards itself called "Upsetting" the end which bulges it some and this helps with then forging the actual axe shape down, otherwise it is very easy to make it a long skinny shape when you want it wide and spread out.

cheers dave