Freeman247 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I have watched a lot of Alex Steele videos and have noticed that he uses a pair of tongs at the head of them is diamond or triangular-shaped when making large tools such as Hammers and axes my question is does anyone know what these particular tongs are called or where you can find plans to make your own or buy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I think the tongs you refer to have been called the Ultimate Tongs and are pictured here: https://plus.google.com/photos/117030057799529631445/albums/5451920122058541745 The forging and construction is very similar to bolt tongs except only one jaw has the V shape cut in and the other has the shape you referred to. I didn't find a YouTube video specific to those tongs, but this one would help with almost everything you would need to do to make those. Of course if you don't have a power hammer it will take you a bit longer to do some of the drawing out, but it should still give you a good handle on the steps involved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmBXrC4S5as Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I'll disagree with Buzzkill and suggest that Freeman247 is thinking of the Brazeal-style pick-up/hammer-making tongs; see the " Brazeal Style Hammer - Tools For making" thread. Additionally, Daniel Lea has a YouTube video on making these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I think you're right JHCC. Thanks for catching that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 We're all here to help each other! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I know them as universal tongs. Please consult the F.A.B.A. web site using the term "universal tongs". There are two articles concerning them. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeman247 Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 3 hours ago, Buzzkill said: I think the tongs you refer to have been called the Ultimate Tongs and are pictured here: https://plus.google.com/photos/117030057799529631445/albums/5451920122058541745 The forging and construction is very similar to bolt tongs except only one jaw has the V shape cut in and the other has the shape you referred to. I didn't find a YouTube video specific to those tongs, but this one would help with almost everything you would need to do to make those. Of course if you don't have a power hammer it will take you a bit longer to do some of the drawing out, but it should still give you a good handle on the steps involved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmBXrC4S5as Buzzkill these were not what I was looking for but now that I see them I will definitely have to look more into them thank you. Here is a picture from one of Alec Steele's episodes. These are the things but have no name or idea of best way to make them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Mr. Freeman, Check the F.A.B.A. website and pull down the 3 or so examples of the "three point tongs". One of those references shows how to make them and also,how to make a tool that makes their construction easier. They are extremely useful, and versatile. Mr. Brazeal intimates that it would take him too much time to make them for sale. I believe that he stated 2 or 2.5 hours. Perhaps so, but they are well worth the effort, for a personal set. Merry Christmas, or Chanukah, or Kwanza, to all, SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeman247 Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Can you get me a link? I tried googling it and it just takes me to there webpage to join and see past albums of conventions and stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Try searching in, http://blacksmithing.org/resources/howto/ Give it a try. If you are unsuccessful I will break out my notes to find it and send it to you. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpearson Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeman247 Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Xxxx xxxx this is it thanks man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 by the looks of that man's belly he's done that beer thing a few too many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Tubalcain 2, I suspect the smith is German. Also, a lot of us on I. f. I. are overweight. Mr. Hofi modified the Habermann hammer, when he developed his Hofi hamer & the rest is history. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRS Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 SLAG, you are right, the smith in wpersons video is German, it is Alfred Habermann. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 4 hours ago, Tubalcain2 said: by the looks of that man's belly he's done that beer thing a few too many times. People in different countries have different body builds. Some is heredity and some is life style. To just look at a photo of someone and suggest that they have had a few too many beers is not acceptable on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 I find his passion for tools and blacksmithing contagious, the way he talks about it at age 75 ... I can only hope I can have that spirit at that age. Alfred Haberman, artist blacksmith and designer passed away 2 years after recording that video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 i'm Sorry Glen. you're all right. i spoke hastily, ignorantly, and inconsiderately. my apologies to all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicon Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Alfred Habermann was born in Czechia (Moravia) and came to Germany in 1985. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 on the death of Prof. Alfred Habermann Reference Alfred Habermann, one of the most influential art forge masters of the 20th century died on April 28, 2008. The "Schmiedepapst", how Habermann as if in awe how lovingly named by not a few of his colleagues, died just before his 78th birthday. Habermann was "Weltreisender" in the interest of blacksmithing. " Almost on every continent, he gave courses and ignited the fire of the modern metal design especially for young people. The large family of blacksmiths, but also the market town of Ybbsitz loses with him an artist, whose views always visionary and whose creativity was an almost infinite. In old age, he was not only at the forge in Ybbsitz, but traveled throughout the world, the ancient techniques of forge craft to teach and promote that blacksmithing again taking hold in the architecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 1 hour ago, Glenn said: Schmiedepapst which translates as the Pope of the smiths, and 1 hour ago, Glenn said: Weltreisender which translates as globe trotter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 If you watch the video posted above, Haberman goes to Italy to visit a blacksmith who uses a water powered hammer. In case you don't understand german, he is telling that an american plane shot down by germans fell near his shop and he has been recycling metal from the plane since that time. The title of the video means "The last of his kind" The blacksmith from Bohemia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 My first meeting with Freddy in Lindau in 1980. He is standing with Alfred Schmidt and his wife, the parents of Gudrun Tischler who still works in the family forge in Trappenkampf. She is either third or fourth generation I think. The Sundial in the background is Freddy's. When I asked him how many men he had working with him he said "just the boy". When I asked how many colleagues he had drafted in to help make the sundial he said "just the boy"! Regarding his height and girth you should not feel too bad Tubalcain2, Freddy would have laughed with you. When he and Vaclav stayed with Dick Quinnel they did manage to get through a wine box between them of an evening. And his resulting snoring had to heard to be believed! A year or two after Lindau at the international conference at Hereford, during a visit to the Blists Hill museum at Ironbridge, one Dimitri Gerakiris pointed out that the delegates formed two distinct body shapes...there were those that were wider than they were high and those that were higher than wide...he managed to get the wider smiths into a line for a photograph, Freddy and himself included...the consolation prize for the skinny ones who were excluded, was that after the photo the "proper blacksmith shaped ones" did a coordinated mass jump for us! Freddy was a fine smith and teacher. I met him on a number of occasions over the years and he was always enthusiastic about both blacksmithing and fellow blacksmiths. My abiding memory, and one of the philosophies which continues to shape my work was when he said "Every hammer blow should be eloquent" I extrapolated that to every process employed should contribute to the spirit of the piece. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Alan, you my friend have indeed lived an interesting and obviously blessed life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 I have met some very interesting people in the blacksmithing world over the years and count virtually all of them my friends...one or two even from South Africa! Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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