Railroad Track Anvil

I could not believe what I saw in front of me. It was exactly what I wanted. Ever since I learned about backsmithing I have wanted to set up my own forge and blacksmith at home. Last year I made a forge and I made an anvil out of a double shoulder tie plate, a metal piece that holds the train track onto the wood beams. It works well enough but it does not have a lot of rebound. Rebound is the distance the hammer bounces back when you hit the anvil with a hammer. The higher the hammer bounces, the better the anvil. I have been trying to find a piece of foot long railroad track for over a year. Very recently I explored on the railroads in Miami. I went down the tracks for a quarter mile. I was looking around the bushes for railroad spikes and perhaps a chunk of railroad track. Listening to the cars passing by I saw a tent hidden in the bushes, where perhaps a homeless person lives. I kept walking farther and something caught my eye. Tossed near the bushes there were two five foot long, discarded pieces of railroad track thrown off to the side. I approached them and for a second I could not believe what I saw. Laying in between the two larger pieces was an 18 inch long section of railroad track. This was exactly what I have been looking for over the past year. My heart started racing as I ran over to pick it up. I was surprised how much it weighed. I imagined it was over 50 pounds. I carried it back to the car, stopping to rest many times along the way. My arms began to ache but I knew I had to bring this perfect anvil back. Once home, I weighed it on my scale and I was amazed to see that it weighed 64.4 pounds. 

Summer Blacksmithing: How I made a Forge on Whidbey Island

This summer on Whidbey Island I made a blacksmith forge. It reached over 2000°F. I made the forge by going to the thrift store and buying a pot, a pan and a hairdryer. At the hardware store, I got long nails, a glue called, "J.B. Weld" and a small metal pipe. I got the J.B. Weld glue because it can get to over 500°F. It was the glue which was the most tolerant to heat that I could find. I then went on the beach that is located in our backyard and found some damp drift wood, squishy, cold clay and found a big block of sparkly coal. Then, I made the forge by first drilling holes in the pan. After, I glued the pan on top of the pot with J.B. Weld. I put a hole in the pot and glued the pipe in it. I attached the hairdryer to the pipe with duct tape. 

I took a hammer and broke the coal down into little pieces. 

Then, I put the little pieces of coal in the top of the forge and lit it. I then turned on the hairdryer and the coals got really hot. I was very excited. The first time I fired up the forge I just flattened a piece of steel. The anvil I used was a piece of railroad track that was given to me by a friend. The next day I fired up the forge, I made a knife from a nail which I had found on the beach.

 Here are some pictures and diagram of it.