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I use a 3 pound hammer at the moment. Thinking of upgrading to 2000 g.
The trick is to hold the hammer close to the head so you don't have to use a lot of underarm torque to lift it up.
It is a lot less tiring, and a lot less damaging to the elbow.
With short handles, you use less torque on the underarm, and you can keep hammering for a lot longer because you use the bigger muscles.
Here are my quick and dirty tongs.Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesman7
Attachment 202629
Not much to look at, but fully functional.
Nice! I'll try and pics of mine tomorrow. I just forged a pair of U box tongs for holding the Damascus stock from Howard. Normally, I'd weld on a piece of mild steel, but the Damascus is in short lengths, and I don't want to lose the inch of material I'd otherwise lose. Mine are uglier than your :p though I am proud of the fact that the U is folded and forge welded to the tongs.
If they work as I hope they will, I'll make a couple for different stock thicknesses so that I no longer have to weld sacrificial steel to the short ends of stock any more. That would save time, and time is money.
These are the ones I made last week, and put together today. I used to tag on rebar or mild steel, but the Howard Clark Damascus I got is special enough that I don't wat to waste an inch. The tongs are made from mild steel.
1) ned it L shaped.
2) flatten the short bit of the L
3) fold the short bit over itself and back around, so that you get a T
4) hammer the short bit flat, flux it, and then forgeweld at welding heat. (heat and hammer a couple of times for a good weld)
5) fold the ends of the T into a U shaped box.
It is ugly, but gets the job done. The stock is rock solid and doesn't budge a hair.
First pic is empty, second pic is holing half of the damascus I worked with today. The other half was forged to a razor blank, and currently annealing
Attachment 203160
Attachment 203161
I'm taking a break from my first attempt at making a pattern welded billet. Considering the work going into it, I think I'll be making some custom tongs for that as well if it turns out. Not wanting to waste an inch is an understatement! Thanks for the pics.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
[QUOTE=Bruno;1504805]It is ugly, but gets the job done. The stock is rock solid and doesn't budge a hair.
First pic is empty, second pic is holing half of the damascus I worked with today. The other half was forged to a razor blank, and currently annealing/QUOTE]
Function over form is the main thing
Funny story.In my local we have alot of barn and farm sales,Bought a huge anvil (maybe 150 lbs).
Got it loaded in the back of my truck and sold it 10 mins later to a guy for 3 times what I paid for it:)
In the barn was also a wood box full of tongs and hammers,I paid no attn. to them,I guess I should have:(
