NickWheeler

Brian- I am new to getting around the blacksmithing circles but heat-treating is something I've been around for over 15 years and quenching those tongs in water (or anything for that matter) is NOT something I would even think of doing. And no prying either, simply holding a punch to mark a hot billet for cutting and they snapped. It was only a 2.5# hammer... it wasn't under the power hammer or anything like that. Personally I think I got a pair that had too much stresses induced during manufacture and/or no proper stress relief afterward. They snapped clean across the apex of the shank and the grain is somewhat coarse.

No worries Grant! I just didn't want anyone to think I was coming in here with a handful of posts and trying to start trouble on the forum. I definitely love your tongs and will be adding more as time goes by :)

Thanks guys- Just for the record (cuz I know feelings can become heated on forums at times) I am NOT in any way trying to bash on anybody in the Tom Tong camp with this thread... I really just want to try and fix them if I can. I'm finishing up a welding degree (worker retraining) and have been messing with TIG a lot the last couple quarters of school and figured I could use these tongs as more practice. Grant, most all of my tongs are from you and I'm extremely happy with them. I hadn't known of the issues surrounding this whole business until reading your posts about it over on Don Fogg's forum. Phil, that is something I considered, but the tongs have ball ends and I didn't really want to mess with the ends of the reins if I could avoid it. Thanks everyone :)

I tried to talk to several people about this after the tongs broke (ranging from the fella selling them at the hammer-in I got them at, to the Ozark school) and no one was willing to help. They've been sitting, broken, in my shop for a couple years now, so I decided to try and fix the problem myself. ArtWerkz, thanks for the recommendations, the instructor at the school recommended the D2 as well. Thanks As an FYI, the tongs were simply being used to hold a punch while marking a piece of steel. They were not being abused.

Hey folks- I did a search for this and couldn't find what I was looking for, so I apologize if this has been covered already. I have a pair of bolt style Tom Tongs that broke just behind the jaws (I believe this is technically the "shank"). TIG welding them up was going to be my next move, but I'm not sure what kind of filler rod to use. The steel is 8650 I think. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! :)

Brian- That is just plain awesome!!! Things like that remind me how much I have to learn. Thank you very much for sharing! -Nick-

Thanks Grant! I got some of your off-set V-bit tongs from you at Dave Lisch's swap meet last summer and they are my new favorite tongs!!! There are no better tongs on the market for holding a bowie blade while forging. B)

Thanks for the welcome guys! I already killed about an hour and a half reading through stuff here today Larry, most of that was reading the thread about the Nazel that went to Jesse... Holy xxxx man What a story!!! chyancarrek - so you're next to St Helens eh? I'm on the very top of it in my avatar :D

Nice anvil!!! I'll echo Glenn's sentiment in that I would leave it alone and just use it. IF, after using it you feel you want to radius the edges then go for it... but like was mentioned, once it's gone it's gone. You can't unscramble an egg. I like sharp edges on my anvil, but I'm forging blades and it is just MY personal preference. I have several different blocks that slip into the hardie hole if I want a different shape. (and I take pretty good care of mine too)

Thanks for the welcome guys (I think, LOL! ). If the pic was from a frame they would have used a better looking male model! :lol:

Hello Everybody Just another knife maker here from southwest Washington. I've been making knives since I was 12, but just started with hot work when I was about 22 (10 years ago). Two of my friends that you probably know, Bill Cottrell and Tom Ferry, were instrumental in helping to get me started with hot work. I went to school to be an engineer, didn't like it when I was done, made knives full time for 5 years, got a different job where 450 of us got laid off and sent back to school, so I'm just finishing up a welding degree and machining cert. So basically I know a bunch of theoretical stuff (also known as bull-$hit), but don't really know what to do with it just yet! I've spent a lot of time getting my name out in knife making circles...but I don't know too many folks in the blacksmithing world. I know I'm missing out because of that too, as hot work is my favorite part of the whole knife making thing. Anyway, I know there's a ton of guys on here that are extremely capable and I hope I can soak up some of that while hanging out. Just for s's & g's, here are a couple shots of the kind of stuff I hack together. And this is said hack with Angi down at Canon Beach, Oregon