Track Ties!

Go for it, Basil.   

Can't wait to see how they come out.

You must have incredible patience.  Would like to see how they come out.  Have you decided on what color stain/paint you will use on them?   I am curious to know about that.

Thanks,

Ed

So far so good.  Did 120 last night before hitting the sack.   I intend to stain them a deep brown.  The ends on some are a bit rough, but I don't mind.  

Here's a pic of my progress.

Quite a task ahead of you!

Are you going to paint the stock ties to match?

I think I did a bunch of mine (back when I had O-27 track in the early layout days) on a big paper cutter at work.  You can line them up and cut quite a few at once.  I don't remember how many strips I lined up side by side, but I know I stacked up at least two strips for each cut.  If I had five strips side-by -side with another five on top, I got ten ties with every pass.  The edges weren't much different from yours in the photo, but you can really get them done quickly.

FJ

I'm undecided on painting the stock ties.  I should match them up, one way or the other.

Basil:

Apologies - It is way too late with all the great work you did. When I build bridges and trestle decks I used a naturally black wood called Wenge. This wood makes excellent looking ties. I over spray with tung oil to darken them up a little to finish up.

Only caveat is one needs a table saw to cut the wood.

Wow! Those look great!  What is your process for assembling those?  I'd like to know more about those ties, for sure.  I can always sell my ties if I make the switch.

Basil posted:

So far so good.  Did 120 last night before hitting the sack.   I intend to stain them a deep brown.  The ends on some are a bit rough, but I don't mind.  

Ballast will hide it. Great job!

Peter

Just a suggestion, Basil.

Weathered wood is often grey, rather than brown.

I painted mine white, then used a black wash several times until it looked "right."

Cheers

Yeah, but: 

I have to admit that I have inside information from my wife, who is an artist.

As an exercise, take some paints out to the track and paint the ties with different colours until you see a match.

It's often surprising.

Cheers.

That is a great suggestion!  I'm going to do that.  There are tracks real close to my house so I can probably give it a try this weekend.  I'll bring my small acrylic mix and see what happens.

Basil,

   I did like you, only I had O-31 track and since the metal ties on them is black, I stayed with that theme to make them uniform. I used wood window screen framing which is easy to come by any of the box stores and is the same width as the metal ties. I used this tool to cut the wood framing 

I like Joe's Wenge wood, but I made my own trestle using the same ties. I actually like the look since the metal ties still blend in with the wood ones.

Keep up the good work It will look great.

Rick

Ties are impregnated with creosote so they don't weather like natural wood. New ties are fairly dark and age to the typical brown color that you usually see.

Great pics, Rick!  Lovely layout!

I make my ties using oak from skids. The good wood I use for new ties, and the really bad split and splintered wood I use for scrap/old ties. I use lamp black powdered dye, used to color mortar, to stain the ties, the a mist coat of water base urethane to seal. For scrap ties, I use dark walnut stain and no sealer to retain a dull worn finish. The first two photos are of new ties, and the last two are used ties. Obviously, these would not be appropriate for hand laid track, due to the density of the oak.  

Don

You guys are blowing my mind.   Amazing detail! 

While I'm revealing my tricks, isopropyl alcohol will dissolve dried acrylic paint.

If you look very closely, you will see the effect on the piles, where I've blended the black stain upwards into the grey.

So, if you paint ties black/brown - what ever looks "right," you can improve the look by blending with IPA.

You need to rub it a bit.  (Elbow grease). 

Cheers

Basil posted:

Wow! Those look great!  What is your process for assembling those?  I'd like to know more about those ties, for sure.  I can always sell my ties if I make the switch.

Basil:

For trestle decks I cut two stringers at length (7/16 x 5/16). I cut ties at either 3/16 or 1/4 square. I am tending towards 3/16 as a standard. I cut dadoes into the stringers spaced at 3/8 inch centers. I have a jig into which I can place the stringers at about 2 1/4 inch outside to outside. I glue in the ties using normal wood glue.

I assemble this way to survive shipping. For home use:

1. You can eliminate the dadoes and simple glue the ties  on top of the stringers. However I don't recommend this way.

2. Sometimes a customer wants more prototypical look (three stingers under the ties). These are cut at 5/16 x 3/16.

Please note I cut all wood thicker than prototypical for various reasons.

Joe

I've made it past 400.  

Woo Hoo!

Keep 'em coming! 

Wow - if I attempted to make that many ties I do believe my head would have exploded at about the 100 mark.

Nicely done.

Ed

When I was making tie loads for Weaver, I was making about four or five hundred at a time. I made a special narrow kerf insert for the table saw, and would cut the width using that. I made a fence for the band saw, and used it to cut the height on several pieces at one time. Then I clamped a stop on the miter saw, and cut several pieces to length at the same time. I would do this at work, on lunches and breaks. You'd be surprised how many ties one can make in half hour sessions. The key is having sharp blades on all the machinery.

I measured several old ties that I knew were very old, and used the largest dimensions as my reference to make mine. The width is just shy of 1/4", as most ties measured between 10 and 11 inches wide. For the height, I used 3/16", as my prototypes measured between 7 and 9 inches high. 

Don

Basil posted:

I've made it past 400.  

I know this is a train forum... but let's not overlook the two T-47s sitting there. :-)

Nice job on the stack there! Keep going.

I painted those!

Well, my 4 year old found my neat stacks.  But I finished, with the help of my 14 year old, no less!  By my estimation I have 830 track ties.  Staining comes next.  

Two months after starting,  with plenty of side projects and distractions, I've finally stained some 800 ties and secured some to my track.  Here's my initial results: