Thread: A Question or two about tongs & hand tools for the forgers

Well, heat and smoke...that's about the time when the real work begins...and you find you can't drop anything to get deal with it. Strike while the iron's hot boys! Get her done, you can heal up later. LOL

Originally Posted by JDM61

Don't forget the smells of burning hair, skin and clothing.

I still have the shape of the beak of my general purpose tongs burned into the soft part of my underarm
I'd laid them on my anvil after taking somethign out of the fire. Then I squatted down to pick up some things and accidentally touched my bare arm for just a second.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I still have the shape of the beak of my general purpose tongs burned into the soft part of my underarm
I'd laid them on my anvil after taking somethign out of the fire. Then I squatted down to pick up some things and accidentally touched my bare arm for just a second.

Ouch

There are reasons I have never had any desire to work with red hot steel.

Wayne Saunders is a new member here. He will make you a set of tongs that will hold a variety of sizes bar stock. They're a brilliant set of tongs, mine are on order. He will also do rounding hammers, which I have two of. Whether you buy his or from someone else they are the business!! I primarily used ball peins but almost exclusively use the rounding hammers now. A diagonal cross pein is a must also. I'm not a fan of the 90 degree or straight up and down cross peins, too much wrist re-alignment to be comfortable in my opinion.
Ultimately just give whatever you can a go and see what works for you.
Cheers
Matt

Mike,
Who was that fellow who you sent me to several years ago that is from overseas? His tongs are great!

Edit: This guy makes good tongs: GS Blacksmith Tongs

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Mike,
Who was that fellow who you sent me to several years ago that is from overseas? His tongs are great!

Edit: This guy makes good tongs: GS Blacksmith Tongs

The link you post is for Grant Sarver RIP. A great tool making smith and I give him my best recommendation too.

The link I posted was: Blacksmith Supply

Known as Tom Tongs, from Tom Clark RIP too, dang all the good ones are dying off. The Tom Tongs are pretty much made in Pakistan, or were and are uniformly stout, useful, high quality tools.

As we saw with the SayMak hammers and those tongs, anyone who bothered to take Mr. Clark's advice re their products generally improved their brand a fair bit.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

The link you post is for Grant Sarver RIP. A great tool making smith and I give him my best recommendation too.

The link I posted was: Blacksmith Supply

Known as Tom Tongs, from Tom Clark RIP too, dang all the good ones are dying off. The Tom Tongs are pretty much made in Pakistan, or were and are uniformly stout, useful, high quality tools.

I made a pair of tongs at the anvil in 1976. Granted I didn't know what I was doing, but it was a huge amount of work. I'm planning on making a pair with 20th century tools and material, stock sizes and arc welding. Razors are small enough that I've been getting by with vice grips, but just barely.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I made a pair of tongs at the anvil in 1976. Granted I didn't know what I was doing, but it was a huge amount of work. I'm planning on making a pair with 20th century tools and material, stock sizes and arc welding. Razors are small enough that I've been getting by with vice grips, but just barely.

I generally work with 3 feet lengths of stock, working the end into a razor and then cutting it off with a hardy. The is easier than using tongs.
When the bar gets too short, I weld on a length of mild steel for the same purpose.
Only now that I am working with short lengths of Damascus have I started to make special purpose tongs.

Originally Posted by JDM61

Don't forget the smells of burning hair, skin and clothing.

Just so Bruno doesn't feel alone re his tong brand...

Remember that everything is hot, even if you're pretty sure it isn't, until you verify that it is cool. I did some redecorating on my finger the other day by absent-mindedly brushing it against a piece of stock I had laid aside to cool. It's probably also a good idea not to forge when you are feeling ill, are really tired, or (as was the case when I did this) a combination of both.




EDIT: forgot my .02 re your questions.

Tongs: v-bits are very helpful for holding round or square stock (gripped by the corners). You can also file/chisel in a shallow v into flat tongs too for similar effect. Bolt tongs as someone linked above can be very handy, as can wolf-jaws. These are the only tongs I have bought so far and they have proven to be very very versatile. Otherwise I am going to make my own from here on in. Bruno's advice re using longer stock is excellent and I do the same when possible.

Hammers: I have a 32oz ball pein and 3lb cross pein that I picked up very cheap from Harbor Freight when I ventured down to Unitedstatesia last year. And I splurged a bit on a 2000g Peddinghaus nordic-style cross pein. The one think I feel I lack is a true rounding hammer, so that's a project on the backburner for some pieces of 4140 that I have. I'm a big guy and I find the 2000g to be tiring after a while, so IMHO most folks should probably start with hammers in the 2.5-3lb range and see how that goes. Don't get me wrong - there are times when that extra weight is very welcome, but the fact that most of the time I reach for the cheaper 3lb hammer tells me something.