What Kind Of Metal Are Rail Spikes Made From?

A Rail Spike retains the trail set up. It isn't exposed to wear such as the monitor is. It has to be powerful and hard to perform its job. If a steel has a high carbon content and is heat treated so it's challenging, it gets more brittle. Should you hit it with a hammer, then it is going to crack.

But Railway Bolts that’s bent can still do its job. So the metal needs to be soft enough to bend without shattering.

Rail Spike Manufacturer said rail spikes usually aren’t an exact equivalent though. If anything, they’ll have less carbon and therefore won’t get as hard. Sometimes they’ll be a bit of an alloy, with metals like copper mixed in to help make them more malleable. This will further help to prevent cracking.

If you would like to cut on a HC railroad spike automatically (like using a blade rather than having a cutting torch) then you might wish to anneal it. Annealing will soften the alloy so you are able to work with this.