Jason @ MacTalis Ironworks

Looks like about 20-30 minutes of work and $20-$30 price tag by my standards. But, that is just a guess. Nice work, and here is a thought for you. Perfectly even twists aren't an asset, they are a liability. Machines make perfect twists, blacksmiths don't. It is more important that it be asthetically pleasing to the eye than be perfectly even. Every last one of my twists are a bit uneven not because I can't get them even if I take the time with it, but because it is those imperfections, like hammermarks, that tell that it is a hand forged piece. If you want perfect, buy from China, their machines do it the same everytime.

If it rings loud ****** like a churchbell, it is likely a trenton. :)

My nail header is made from a random leaf-spring hunk cut to a paddle shape, and domed with a big ball bearing in a swage. No hardening, just normalize it. Has prolly had about 5000 nails or so made with it with no sign of deformation at all as of yet.

Offhand, whatever I have laying around, though as a rule of thumb, I don't like to use anything hardenable as quenching it can cause it to harden and become brittle. Though it is rare that I ever let my tongs get anywhere near their crit temp...

just chiming in my 2 cents here: I've never had much trouble getting plain carbon steels to weld to mild, in this fashion, however, when I do it, I do it with short, FAT pieces of stock then draw them down to final size. Usually I'll start with 18-24" or so of 3/4 for the pieces. I taper the mild core and make sure the carbon pieces extend an inch or so past the mild. This allows me to get a wrap composition to the billet without actually having the hassle of the actual wrap. If you are hand welding I recomend at least 3 full welding passes over the billet to insure integrity, (I find pressing and power hammers weld reliably enough for single pass welds).

Just a thought here, and it goes WAY back in the craft. After heat treat (quenching AND tempering) I have always "throw tested" all of my swords just to add a considerably degree of certainty that everything went as it should. This consists of raising the blade over your head and hurling it horizontally, at the concrete floor. Yes, it is a risk that you may discover you did something wrong in the heat treat, but much better it shatter like glass in the relative safety of the shop than when you are swinging it at a roll of tatami or "shudder" a sapling tree. Just my 2 cents on the matter based on an age-old method that evolved from a time when the failure of your blade almost certainly meant your death.

This was touched upon, but I am gonna reiterate... spring steels are hardenable, if you are getting anywhere near the crit point of the steel heatwise and end up quenching them, they are going to harden and become brittle. With the exception of a few jobs, hardenable steels do not make for good tongs for this reason. I have always used plain old mild steel for my tongs, and I don't think I have ever had a pair break. I would suspect another factor than the steel for the failures you are experiencing. Mild isn't appreciably affected by quenching, so overheating and cooling probably isn't the problem. I'd look at the appropriateness of the tongs for the job first i.e. are you using too light a pair for too heavy of work, or poor design/execution of the tongs as far as hard shoulders and the like. All your transitions should be radiused to relieve stress, if you have crisp shoulders in them, it can create a shear point that leads to failure. Hope this helps some, and good luck on getting them to work. If you live anywhere near NE Ohio, drop me a line, and I'd be glad to show you how I make them buggers. As I said, I don't think I have ever had a pair of tongs I made break on me (though I have had to forge weld a few back together after burning through the reins LOL).

You sir, are a sick, sick man, I hope you get well soon... LOL

As I have always said about tongs, so long as they keep the hot stuff outta your fingers, they are good. You might want to check out the twist method of making them as it is a real time-saver over most other methods. They look good though, especially for coming from RR spikes.