Had a railroad spike crack on me mid-twist Tuesday afternoon

Was working on a simple bottle opener out in the shop last week, using a spike I pulled out of a bucket from an old railroad salvage job near Altoona. Got it heated up, started the twist, and right when I put tension on it, a hairline crack shot straight up the side and ruined the piece. This is the third time I've had this happen with spikes from that batch. Has anyone else dealt with older railroad spikes having hidden stress fractures that don't show until you're halfway through a piece?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mary12d ago

Fits a pattern of old things breaking just when you need them most.

grantf7312d ago

Buddy of mine named Walt picked up a bucket of spikes from a 1900s-era line near Scranton, and three out of four cracked on him before he even got a good twist going. We figure the old steel gets brittle from decades of vibration and nobody bothered to normalize 'em before forging.

john65011d ago

Funny you mention "the old steel gets brittle from decades of vibration" because that's exactly how I feel about half the stuff I deal with nowadays. Seems like everything from old tools to people's patience just gets more cracked and fragile the longer it sits. It's like you don't know what's solid until you actually put some weight on it.