You will notice your spring section is curved. One end (the end to be mounted at the base of the horn) needs to be square the other can be ragged for the time being, just be a little generous with your measurements. You may as well torch it, since you are doing it anyway. Depending on how long your track section is, you will need perhaps a foot to eighteen inches of spring. This is where the section of truck leaf spring comes in. The next step is to make a flat surface on the top of the anvil. Remember, dents and rust pitting on the surface of the spring will be transferred to the work, so try to find a smooth piece. You will also need about the same length of a truck leaf spring, so, while you are poking around, looking for a section of track, ask about a piece of spring, too. You can get by with eighteen inches, so that is in your favor. I can even show you places where surveying markers were made out of sections of track driven into the ground! You don't need a lot of track - two feet will be oodles.

When they pulled the track up in my area, scraps were available everywhere. You might find pieces in scrapyards, auto repair shops, antiques shops, or various other places. In the country, especially in areas where there used to be railroad tracks, it is a little more doable. While there may be plenty of track there, I'm almost positive they don't want you pulling it up. That may be easier said than done, especially in more urban areas. My dad collected it for use on the farm in the 50's.First, you find a piece of railroad track. My anvil is made from a narrow gauge rail road that they used for logging and mining on the mountain behind my house, when they were finished they tore up the tracks and left it in piles all over the mountain. I didn't know there were so many rules around railroads. My forage harvester has metal alert to protect it from ferrous metals and is so sensitive that a couple of years ago when the street sweeper came up the road and was losing some of his metal bristles out of his brush, I couldn't pick up the rows along the road. About fifty were picked up from the field. Seems the railroad crew had been replacing some ties where the tracks ran alongside his field and someone decided they should see how far they could throw spikes. Hour later he's back, metal again, another set of knives, cutterbar and repair the cylinder once again. We spent the afternoon replacing a set of knives, cutterbar and repairing the damaged cylinder, sent him on his way. We had a farmer come into the shop early one after noon, picked up some metal in his forage harvester. I was warned off the chinese cast iron anvils as being very poor unless you want to weld a plate of tool steel over the stiking surface. I found one source selling new anvils for the best prices with $10 shipping. Add that scarcity to a re interest in blacksmithing and the prices for used ones are just crazy. Everyone that had one laying around cashed it in when scrap metal was at it`s high point. By me anvils were once plentiful and cheap, that is certainly no longer the case. Thanks guys, I enjoyed making it a great deal. I did some grinding but ran out of light and will finish it later. I toasted one set of plasma consumables doing the cutting and shaping. I used the LOTOS LTP5000D 50A Pilot Arc Plasma Cutter to cut out the center web and to rough in the horn before grinding, the center section cut easily at the 50amp setting and I had good results shaping the horn.I was able to remove the wire standoff from the plasma tips ceramic cone and use it like a whittling knife to pare away the steel a little at a time with almost pinpoint control like a sculptor shaves clay. One 12 inch piece of 5+ inch tall track and an 8 inch piece of 8+ tall track. As luck would have it in one afternoon I had been gifted two pieces of RR track that friends had in their garages.

As it is the holiday season I have been running around handing out bottled Christmas 'Cheer' to friends and I now always ask everyone if they know where an anvil is or where pieces of RR track can be had. I`ve been looking for a reasonably priced anvil but have not had much luck, I also have been seeking a piece of RR track to make a poor mans anvil.

30 pound railroad track anvil