I'm working on turning a chunk of railroad rail into a fuller die for my treadle hammer. I've got the top section cut off already with my torch, and have the post set up and such... Now it's coming down to making the bottom of the top part of the rail flat, then turning the top of the top into a nice bevel.

But, my angle grinder with a grinding wheel is very slow going... Is there anything I can use outside of a milling machine to remove more material, more quickly? Ideally something I can just throw on my angle grinder? :P I thought about removing some of the material with my torch, but... I'm not confident I can hold the angle the whole length.

Thanks

Hot rasping.   Big heavy rasp as type used by farriers.   Get the iron you need reshaped hot, into the red-straw color.   Wear gloves, the rasp will take off metal quickly, unless it is hardened steel.   On your grinder, get the roughest  wheel you can locate, will remove stock fastest. 

If I am understanding right I would try plasma gouging, of course most of us don't have a plasma cutter in there shop.

I Would just use a coarse grinding wheel an go to town.

I don't have one... but, I have access to a plasma cutter. It's not rated for cutting a chunk of rail of course, but, I've never heard of plasma gouging before o.o

Is there any designation between coarse and fine grinding wheels? I've pretty much only seen metal, stainless, or masonry wheels for my angle grinder. (exempting all the more exotic attachments)

an oxy-acetylene cutting torch

Yeah, your torch is the only hope. Milling machines are accurate, not fast, especially on a chunk of rail.

  To do it, you heat the work with a long clean (crackly meaning you just cleaned it) torch flame, and skim the flame across surface of the steel. Paring it down. More melting than cutting.
  Trying to take too heavy a cut gets scary, real fast.
     yours Scott
   
     

The thing you need is the air powered die grinder with a big burr , but those aren't easy to find these days.
(Not the little HF one, the big 2 foot long & weighs 40 pounds one)

Angle grinder, even the big electric ones , just doesn't have the balls to push the kind of abrasive you need.

Masonary chop saw with a carbide masonary blade will cut it cross wise, but you have to figure out how to get it in there, and gawd help you if it twists while the (fragile) blade is in the cut...

If it will fit into a forge, hot cut is the way to go...
Used RR track is basically work hardened manganese steel, it is harder than all heck, and tougher than a 10 cent steak, rr's did not like their track wearing out all the time ;P

Well, I cut it length wise fine with my torch. Cut the 'I" part flush to the bottom of the top portion of the rail. I need to make the top portion flat on the bottom, and curved on the top. I was thinking I might throw it in my forge, and try to beat it into shape... but, I don't have a sledge, and I bet I could hit that thing all day with my 4 lb mini sledge and not do anything to it but mar the surface :P

I guess I'll try to carefully skim the bottom off with the torch. And set up a guide to help me keep the angle from getting too extreme on the top...


Hehe, that's why it makes great hardies, and hopefully, a great die for my treadle hammer :3

How about a cutting disc in your angle grinder?? These will allow you to cut off slabs of metal as long as a) the disc is deep enough to pass through the stock or b) you can make cuts into the stock (say 2mm apart, and chisel out what remains)..

The old way was to chain drill holes, opening them out until they almost touch, and then use a cold chisel.... A tungsten carbide masonry drill will cut into toughened or hardened steel if you grind it right...