Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

Years ago an old timer told me you could cut railroad rail by supporting it so the piece you wanted was hanging cantilever, making a hacksaw cut across the track and striking it with a heavy hammer.

He said it would split clean through from the hack saw cut.
I have always wanted to try it.

Disclaimers:
1) He was pretty old
2) He might have been confused
3) He might have been yarning

Spoiler

4) He might be full of $#!t too

 

Neat!

 

I didn't craft anything today. No welding. Zero fabrication. Machining? Nah. Woodworking? Nope, none here. Butt I did manage to catch a 6" bass.

 

I kinda believe him, as I know the difference between work hardened metal and mild steel. However, splitting the full web and base with a hammer blow is sorta.. hard to believe. But I do know that top layer of rail is as hard as metal probably gets, after several thousand tons on the wheel multiplied by several thousand times it happened over the years. The top is hard. And rings!

 

Well Wrenchmen, prepare to be amazed (not really ), I did actually did something today - not even related to mowers.

I had this dead space behind a door - naturally it collected - stuff , not junk or garbage, just stuff like pieces of all-thread, brake tubing and a 36" pipe wrench.

With the addition of some shelves and a bit of wiring I have a dedicated place for my cordless tools and chargers.



I have an aversion to devices being unused and plugged in so I installed a switched outlet & a red 2 watt LED indicator.



Reasons:
1) Thrift: Anything that is warm in stand by mode is using electricity, sometimes quite a bit in the case of things like cable boxes.
2) Safety: I have never seen an unplugged appliance catch fire.

I finally have a place to mount these neat battery holders too.
All items came from the archives too (some used stuff) so no new money was spent.

 

It works but it's still a healthy bit of cutting, especially with a hack saw!

 

So I got a few of the LED bulbs at Slowes on clearance for about $3, one has been on the air compressor for about a year, trouble free.

This one had been on a "Winter Watchman" in a basement last year.
I went to screw it in and ....



Wasn't expecting that .
Better view of the LED part.



The filiment in a conventional incandescent bulb will burn up immediately when power is applied if the glass breaks, naturally I had to give it a try.



It works just fine - so much for that advertised 50,000 hour life though.
(... and my $3 !)

 

Goodnight everyone

 

Morning all
Still here wind is picking up

 

Good morning everyone, stay safe out there. Especially the ones near the hurricane.

 

Good morning everyone

Good luck to you FL GA & SC folks

 

As hard as rail road track is that might be true .

So many old abandoned rail spurs finding a nice piece of track should not be to hard .

I do have some track if it did not get tossed in the scrap .

 

Speaking rail road track or crane rail @Taco critter sees some now and then .

 

Good morning Manly men

Today marks birthday #93 for a man who needs no introduction, Warren Buffett

Talk about "a man with a plan" -- he bought his first shares of stock at age 11.

 

Hopefully he doesn't have plans to conquer the world like some other "rich and famous"

 

I have no idea Who He is .

Jimmy Buffet`s brother is that the case?

 

Look at the last line of the panel Rusty posted.

 

Good morning shop crew, have a great Wednesday!

My buddy Mike is back from vacation so it’s time for old guys to go look at old stuff for history adventure Wednesday.

Jim Cantore is in Cedar Key so you should be safe lol.

Seriously, good luck to you and anyone else in the track.

 

Sounds like the storm missed you to the east!

If your exploring the history of your area today.

 

Yes we’re good, blue sky and sunshine here. About 20 minutes of rain yesterday, that’s it.