For him, I made bookends of people reading,” Wood said. “His son is a drummer, so I created a drummer, and his daughter runs marathons all over the U.S., so I created a marathon runner placed on a piece of wood shaped like the United States. One, a friend of his, wanted gifts for his children.
Wood’s designs include a photographer, a baseball player, a man proposing to a woman, a bicycle rider, an elephant, a coat rack and more.Įach spike art piece takes about 5 to 6 hours to create, and according to Wood, “It’s worth it.” He’s had clients in Los Angeles and New York, but most of his clients are local. “It just so happens that a railroad spike is just about 6 inches long and I am 6 feet tall, so I am able to make the hands and other features to scale,” Wood said. The first pieces that Wood created were golf figures in varying positions, and he was able to make each figure to scale. Purely self-taught, he has never taken a welding class–a fact that surprises many people. After retiring, Wood took that man’s advice and began testing his skills. who was a metal worker and gave Wood some advice regarding welding: purchase a good welder. He was interested in welding, however he had never learned the skill. Wood has always enjoyed working with his hands to create woodwork pieces and restore cars. “I find the spikes and repurpose them into something cool.”
“I’m rescuing these railroad spikes,” explained Wood. He calls his art pieces “railroad spike rescue projects.” Nowadays, Wood finds railroad spikes and heats, cuts, bends and shapes them to form artistic pieces like figurines of people playing sports or doing activities, animal figurines, and items such as coat racks and wall art. Wood retired after 40 years in the accounting/banking business. “Retirement is great! It took me all of about an hour to get used to it,” laughed Wood, who is 64 years old. Wood wears a cap similar to his spike characters. Other helpful materials and tools that are needed include a wooden handle, chisel, spring swage, and a ball peen hammer.Īlternative tools and techniques are offered in the original video tutorials, so as long as you have the basics, you should be able to complete the following projects.Artist Jim Wood in his shop with one of his favorite spike sculptures of a longhorn steer. For some of the projects listed below, vices and grinders are also helpful. Working with railroad spikes requires all the basic blacksmithing equipment: a forge, anvil, hammer, tongs, and punches. What Tools Do I Need for Railroad Spike Projects? Photo by U.S. If you are a beginner blacksmith wanting to create some functional pieces out of railroad spikes, or a seasoned smith who needs some project inspiration, check out the following project ideas and their corresponding YouTube videos. The shape of railroad spikes is also very accommodating for different types of small projects like the ones detailed below. Why work with railroad spikes?įor beginners wanting to refine their hammering technique and get more comfortable with the blacksmithing process in general, railroad spikes are a very forgiving, inexpensive material to practice with. Although nontraditional, railroad spikes are common items that are reworked by blacksmiths. Like other crafts, there are no true rules that dictate what materials blacksmiths use.
1.2.10 10) Railroad Spike Wizard Face Railroad spikes are very cheap to acquire and quite forgiving for beginners looking for smaller projects.
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