Tongs

The first bolt tongs ive made! So far I have made several different kinds of tongs but ive neglected bolt tongs and so I figure I better change that!. These are to hold 5/8 square and round, but given the bits are short and the positioning of the reins they hold 3/4 quite nicely. These also work really well on flat bar and they have just enough clearance for RR spike heads. Let me know what you think :unsure: 4140

Handles are too short but the jaws work great! I can't wait to make Pair number 2. The forge is in an un-insulated building currently at 15 degrees. Doesn't give you much time between heats. Maybe it will warm up this weekend. 40 degrees would feel like a heat wave!

how farriers make tongs.....just sayin'

A friend came by the other day and we were forging and he was having trouble finding tongs that worked well for him on flat knife blades so I made these. I took a little more time than normal and tried to make them look a little better. I don't sell my tongs so I have really not been in the practice of making them presentable. I think I need to change my ways. These are the 6 I made. 2 of them were box jaw. 2 of them were these edge grippers that pass by I don't know what they should be called. I also made 1 for gripping flat 1/8 stock and a rivet tong just because.

so my first pair of tongs work ok but they took forever to make(and I over did it and hurt my elbow), so on this set I did things differently (work smarter not harder). first I hopped on AutoCad and designed my tong blank so I know where to drill and cut the all the blanks so they are close to the same. then I printed it out and made a couple patterns out of some wood. drilled all the rivet hols and then took the 14 pcs to school and cut them out with their torch. Then i had 14 blanks ready for 7 pairs of tongs. so enough gabbing and here is a pic of my firs pair using this method:)

Got my new diamondback 2 burner economy forge today!! Man does this thing cook:) So I whipped up a tong rack and hook. Since I made the rack I had to make my first pair of ugly tongs, but the good news is they work:) here are some pics

Had a little extra time so I made a pair of pliers with a box hinge. they are forged out of 1/2" wrought iron. it was a fun project .

Hello. And a merry christmas from Germany! Yesterday I was in my forge again :) - finally after two weeks of no forging :( - and completed my pair of tongs and a bottom swage with help of the new tongs. The tongs are based on Toby Hickman´s way of making them, that was adopted by TechnicusJoe for hand hammering and welding on the rains in this video of him. The jaws, the arch and the boss are forged out of 20x10mm (0,8"x0,4") flat bar mild steel and the rains are forgewelded on 10mm (0,4") round mild steel. The bottom swage is forged out of 40mm (1 1/2") cold rolled 1045 tool steel quare stock. You all have a good day! Yours - Daniel

OK so its a broad request .....But yes I know what tongs are used for ... After picking up a hot piece of steel today more times than I spend working it on anvil I realize I need to know and understand a lot more about tongs.... I just don't know what the jaw shapes are when trying to link them to a name.... Like what are : Fire Tongs Single Pickup Tongs Double Pickup Tongs Triple Pickup Tongs V-Bit (Bolt) Tongs Wolf Jaw Tongs Box Jaw Tongs Duckbill Tongs Open Mouth Tongs Flat Nose Tongs Round Nose Tongs Rivet Tongs What I am trying to do is identify what each type of tong does and get good idea what gripping surfaces are shaped like …

decided to post these cuz i think they are purty cool :D also for a beginner making tongs it is a great way to practice technique because one can make a lot of tong blanks in 15min.Anyway here ere some pics any thought or comments welcome rhett btw this is my 3rd pair of tongs

Hello all, Permit me to pick your collective brains on something. I want to make tongs. Simple, flat bit tongs, to hold 1/4" stock. What would be a good starting size of stock for a project like this? I know 1 1/2" X 1/4" flat is a good size, but can I make it out of 1/2" square or some other size? Thank you, Ridgeway Forge

Here is an idea that i have that im going to build. Im just wondering if anyone has a similar style jig and how they like using it. Tong jig.bmp

Here are a pair of rebar tongs I forged last Saturday.

Made this the other day. Took me a couple of hours. It was my first try and I'm pleased with it. Opinions please. Thanks.

Hi Guys, i am doing a project on unique tongs and different varations on classic tongs. If you have any unique tongs or know where i can get some good materail please post it. I am going to try and post as many unique types i can find for people just intrested.

So i have been on a tong making kick and tried a new method, drop welding the reins. I have never done drop welding but I can stick a faggot/billet weld just about every time. Drop welding is way more fun, and i got a nice set of tongs out of it. so what is your favorite way of making tongs? welding? upsetting? drawing out? How do you do it? Power hammer? hand? jig? Josh

These look horrid, but they work. And, they're my first tongs. 1/2" Round as starting material, a little light, but the tongs are for 3/16" and under. I open it up for the cannon fodder, please, tear it to shreds if you want, offer suggestions. I want to improve, and I know they are wretched. I had to start somewhere, so why not at horrible and work my way up to great or masterful. These tongs represent a leap of faith for me. Before these I had always been afraid of failure and wanted to make my work masterfully done and beautiful. I did not give myself any opportunities to fail, which made me easily frustrated. But today, I am happy with these tongs. Yes, they're u…

I have found these tongs to be some of the most usefull in my collection.

I was wondering if there was a reason other than time and effort needed to do it for why tong reins aren't made this shape? Here is a picture showing a cross-section view of what I am asking about. I would think that the 'T' shape would provide a stronger rein with lower weight than just square, round or rectangular does. I have an idea in my head that would make it fairly easy to do, at least in theory... lol. But anyway, Any information or suggestions about this? Should I pursue it?

I've been focusing on making tools lately with a goal of making my own hammer. - decided to give the hammer tongs a go. Following Brian's tutorial on making hammer tongs. This is my first set of tongs. I've always been intimidated by tongs but the tutorial made it quite doable. I had a slight problem with making the tong halves exact and the hammer finish is not that great. I really like the lightnes and spring in the riegns. Here's a few pics.

Hi guys, I've got an order for some very small belt buckles. Very similar to pennanular brooches about 1" across. I had a trial run with some 1/4" round bar the other day but this was too big and really I think I ought to use 1/8" I really struggled to hold the bar when it was this small, particularly once I'd started forming it into the round shape. Do any if you have tongs designed for stuff this small? Can anyone recommend a design I could replicate. Cheers Andy

This is the fourth set of tongs I've made, and they are starting to look they were done by someone with a clue. :) The one jaw with the deep chisel cut in it did eventually break at that point. I've since reshaped them and they match better and the fit is better, too. I did the finish work initially with both halves still on the bar, and it was hard making them match. Going forward, I'll finish the reins and rough shape the jaws, then finish the halves side-by-side. I expect it will be easier getting them to match that way. And the chiseling of the grooves in the jaws didn't go as well as it should've, either, for the same reason, with the same possible solution. …

So.. after getting clearance from the tower (aka wife) and some time off (aka weekend), my father and I tried our hand at making a set on tongs... and boy did we learn a thing or two. Going off Brian Brazeal's great "How to" on youtube.. we went ahead and just did it.... Let me tell ya... moving 3/4" round with a 3.6# hammer was "fun" in every sense of the word. The end result was a combination of work between my father and I, which would explain the different "jaw" sizes (he's got a power hammer for an arm...). We also had our first customer order (more like a favor). An uncle needed an extra long firepoker... so.. we used 6' of 1/2" square and went to town.... …

Hi guys, I needed a decent set of tongs to hold some arrow heads while I forge the points. I came up with these They are a bit offset but the work very well. I've not done any forging for ages and I was knackered after drawing them out. They hold well What do you guys think? Many thanks Andy

Hey Guys, in this very video I explain the procedure to make box jaw tongs that fit for 25x10mm flat bar. Due to the fact that a lot of people saw TechnicusJoe´s tongs videos to be mirrored in my video I watched his and yes, I can also see the similarities. But this must have happened unconsciously and I, although I sure have been influenced by his work, did not try to copy him on purpose. My main source for the box jaw tongs and the welded on rains was Mark Aspery´s video, for the flat jaw tong what I was taught in France and for the drawing out Brian Brazeal´s video. The purpose of this video is to show people that are keen to learn the technique to make a pair of …