Ionselat

Ricko13 you aren't kidding, I only have a 2.5lb hammer and moving 3/4" rebar is a chore! That's a nice set of tongs, way better than the first ones I made that actually work. It took me 3 attempts to get a set I can use. Here are the crappy pair of tongs I just finished. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36433-tongs-try-3-small/

Brian, I for one cannot thank you and the community enough for starting this thread and posting all the awesome videos, I feel that I've come a long way in the short time that I have been learning. The tip you gave for working with clay has kept me from wasting a lot of material. I spoke with you earlier this week about a rounding hammer and you gave me lots of good advice. I ended up ordering an inexpensive Estwing engineer's hammer because I'm trying to save money near the holidays, it was errantly labeled rounding hammer so I dressed one of the flat sides and ground down the other and I now have a new favorite hammer, that thing really moves some metal quickly and accurately! It doesn't have squared sides so I don't get the cross pein die but I have one of those if I need it or may break out the grinder again at some point and modify the flat side to have varied radii like it seems your flat side have. I was using the horn for drawing out and at times in conjunction with the cross pein which I would then have to spend more time removing the waves and straightening the metal again.

I've watched this video numerous times now; it's awesome watching the pros work. I've been working with my homemade forge and 70lb anvil for a few months and I've gone through a few bars of mild steel attempting to make tongs. It's enjoyable and I've definitely made some progress. VaughnT, I silenced my anvil with the magnets like you mentioned in the video, works like a charm, that tip is pure gold!

Brian, I meant to thank you for the video about the tongs and, thank both Brian and VaughnT for the information about taking the ring out of the anvil!

I bought it from the N.C. tool company a year or so ago. http://www.shop.ncto...?productId=1171

This may be a stupid question but I'm a newbie to blacksmithing and I'm still learning things. How did you silence your anvil? My anvil rings a lot when I work with 1018, I have a Short Sugar 70lb anvil and bolted it to a large 100+ lb stump to help absorb some of the vibrations.