jtm1811

what is width suspect? 

I have some bolt tongs for railroad spikes and square stock but they are only 5/8  and i use em for round sometimes, i was useing some tongs that i found our were fire tongs for flat but they arent to good for it, i wanna hold leaf springs and other flat stock. i was told some walf jaws would be good but flat would be better by lots of difernt ppl so idk

Open Mouthed or Closed Mouth PickUp/Flat Stock Tongs. That is the Question??????

Plz help 

10 hours ago, DSW said:

RR spikes are usually about 5/8" square on the shank on average, so you are probably looking to get a pair of 5/8" bolt or spike tongs. Often the way tongs are made, you can usually hold the next size up reasonably well. With some tongs you can also hold the next size under, though on occasion with some difficulty. So say 1/2" tongs may work for 3/8" thru 5/8" material. This can be convenient when you need two tongs to work with the material. Say you need to get the work piece out of the forge, but then have to shift how you hold it to work the stock. I'll usually use the "wrong" size tong to grab it in the forge, then transfer the stock to the correct sized tong to work the material.

Thanks for the help   

Hey everyone... so I'm rather new to blacksmithing and I would like to invest in a set of Bolt Tongs. I have heard that they are useful for holding round stock and square stock nd railroad spikes which i would love to start making knives out of. However they come in a bunch of different sizes which i dont know what they mean. The sizes say  BOLT TONG 4-5 mm  (3/16”) x 300 mm (12”) REINS W/BALL ON END OF REINS C.S.  i know that the 300mm is the rein length but idk what the 4-5mm part is?  could someone plz point me in the right directon or tell me what size would be suitable to hold railroad spikes and other stuff... cheers, Jake