hiltsbilt

ok cool

im going to have to try the leaf as a hook that sounds cool

thats cool good work. what size stock did you use?

was out in the shop getting my hammer handles just right so I fired up the forge to test them out. Started making a leaf and was thinking about making it a key chain but instead I made it in to a hook :D 3/8" square

Ty guys for the kind words :D

the boss is 1x1/4 and the reins are 3/8" round so its at least the tallest part, and the rivet is 1/4 to match the thickness so i guess im kinda close to what you described I think

the reins are welded on so its probably week there anyway, the reason I went that route is because I hurt my elbow making my first pair. I will learn to make bolt head tongs and other tongs down the road but I needed tongs and there was no way i was going to spend 40$ a pair when I can make them, and I was able to do it without killing my arm so I can get my strength up. here are my first tongs, I hot punched these but didn't draw out the reins.

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:)

tks frosty

thank you

ya flux spoon, it would also be cool to hang it by the stove for a tasting spoon when im cooking. So after I shut down the forge and stuff then came back in the house the wife starts putting nails in the wall to hang some aprons. So I told her to give me an hour and went back out to the shop and made her some hooks to hang it on:)

ill have to try that

finished up my poker today, and to warm up I made a spoon :) pics

out by the fire pit last night and I took this pic, its the basket twist I put on my first poker. the poker isn't done yet going to finish it up today and will post the full pic of it when its done.

tks guys, they work well even at our fire pit last night I was using them to pic up the burning pieces of wood that fell on the ground lol.

ya welded the reigns on there around 22" long total, ill probably shorten them. But they weren't getting in the way at all today so maybe ill leave them. Forged out a couple key chains today out of 3/8", it was fun:)

tks guys. Vaughn tell you what I don't regret it. I got it because I figured it would be more neighbor friendly then the coal forge I built, and fuel is a little easier to get.

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

that cone is sweet

im going to have to get me one of those swage blocks

humm vid didnt work try a link:) http://s1188.beta.photobucket.com/user/hiltsbilt/media/blacksmith/100_0080.mp4.html

here is a little vid of it in action my first time using it <embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1188.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz412%2Fhiltsbilt%2Fblacksmith%2F100_0080.mp4">

looken good

i made box bellows they work good..

you could forge out a spoon , watch a youtube vid of a guy demonstrating that to a crowd.