CrazyGoatLady

Coincidentally, I made a pair yesterday from Ken's Custom Iron. Took me a bit under 2 hours I think. Most of that time was filing and fiddling with fit. Most of the actual forging is drawing the reins and that even depends on how far you want to go with them as does filing.( I am a real stickler for details). I've not made them from scratch, but if you want a pair that's fairly easy and easy on the pocket book, it's a great option. I tried them out once I was done and they are a very versatile tong.

I started out with an interest in being a farrier. Being out doors and around horses and getting paid for it. That didn't happen, but the blacksmith bug hit me in the course of things. You never know where an idea may take you

Looks great. Good work!

Helena, good for you! Persistence pays off. Keep up the good work

Your wife does great work. I would not have known someone is holding a camera in their hands. No pictures, but I had an awesome time in the smithy today. Made a leaf keychain to warm up. Practiced isolating material because I'm going to make a scrolling wrench when I get some decent sized steel for it. And got one tong half nearly done. I need to make some to hold horseshoes better. Just gotta get the rein drawn out. Lots of work as I'm sure many of you know. Even practiced scrolling with some S hooks. It's weird, but sometimes the simplest operations seem harder for me to do. But mostly, got some hammer time in on many different sizes and shapes.

pnut, yes I burnt the first chain link I made pretty badly. 2, 3 and 4 are mostly welded together, but they look pretty rough even after scrubbing the tar out of them with a block brush. I was just happy I got the welds as far as I did. Frosty, thank you for the great, detailed information. I'll take more careful account of what goes on in my own forge. I didn't even think about forges working differently in different environments. Thanks for your help. It has expanded my thinking by leaps and bounds on this subject.

Snow just helps to blow the scale off Nice looking handle. I need to do that. I have small hands and those big bulky handles they come with are a bit hard for me to hang onto

I agree completely. And I can attest that a Diamondback will get to forge welding temps. Where do you set the psi on your Diamondback if you don't mind me asking. Mine was at about 18. I'd like to guage it by another's experience. Also, do you use a sacrificial brick or anything like that on the forge floor? I'd appreciate any feedback you could provide

It's not laughable to me either. It's just a difference in climate and what you like. I hate winter. When it's warm, I live outside. We don't get as cold of winters here in Texas so I'm not acclimated to it at all. It doesn't even feel warm to me until it gets in the upper 70s. And we have had big swings in temperature ranges also. Normally it would be very pleasant but it's been nearly chilly enough to turn on heat at night. No bueno to me. So it's all just a matter of what your used to. I've watched your videos and seen you forging in the snow. My hats off to you because I'd freeze to death

Nice Justin. I have a set up about like yours. Not for tongs but for chisels, punches, every day files and what not. Walls are a good idea. Soon it will be hot here and I regularly forge in 100° + weather. I'm a weirdo probably because I prefer forging when it's warm out!

DSW, I wanted to comment and tell you I like your videos. They leave me with a peaceful feeling and I like the angles you shoot. I can see very well what you're doing. Good work

Oh cool Neil! I will do that next time. And thank you Chris!

My sons birthday is today. And my daughter's birthday is on Halloween. I didn't know that about May day tanglediver

Your hammers keep looking better and better. You got mad skills

Thank you Billy and arkie for the positive feedback. I appreciate it so much. And arkie, I think your chain looks great. Looks prettier than mine

Thanks Irondragon! I hope you can find them. I'd like to see them and I promise I won't laugh. I love looking at others' work

Very nice Jen. I'll keep adding links as a sort of "chain" of progress to see how they look over time. Thomas, I can think of a few times where those dock weights would have come in real handy for that purpose The tong demo would be great Jennifer. I didn't see the ad on to your post till just now

Thank you! I certainly wouldn't trust this to pull something or hold anything very heavy up. I've been inspecting it since I got it done and taking notes on what I can do better next time. I had to stop in the middle of the process because the tree trimmers showed up to dump a load of mulch, so took a minute to get back up to heat. It didn't take me near as long to do as I thought it would either. I'm happy as a little lark Now there's an idea Thomas!

I think I have become a member of the Forge Welding Club! Got 3 links together. I cranked it up to about 18 psi. Got them orange, cleaned and fluxed. A little too much probably at first. Watched the heat and the flux bubble. I stuck my little wand to them as Jennifer called it Haha. It was amazing when it actually stuck. Pulled them out and tapped 2 or 3 times. The flux sqishing out was pretty awesome too. Cleaned and fluxed again and set the weld. They are a little wonky and the welds didn't completely blend all the way around, but they are at least there. That is one of the coolest things I've done

Billy, I haven't done it yet and I'm already thinking of the possibilities But I'd be perfectly happy with some chain that I made myself. Thank you guys. I appreciate every bit of help y'all are giving me. I hope when I get a successful weld I can get a picture to post because I'll be eager for y'all to see.

No but I was reading where you mentioned that somewhere else Thomas. I can get some. And I would just set the piece on top of the kitty litter?

Ooo I really like that Thomas!

Irondragon It was forecast to be bad but it literally just skirted around us. Got a little rain and a lot of lighting, but that was it. I'm glad to hear y'all got through it without damage.

I'm with Steve. Those are top notch

If I can get a picture to load, I will. I've been having so much trouble that I haven't bothered lately. I'll turn up the pressure. I'm kind of freaky about it because I've heard so much about how hard forge welding is on a gas forge. However, I believe my forge will have no problem reaching these temperatures. I made a little thing with a piece bent at the end so I could move the ring into the forge far enough and pull it back out. I didn't know about touching the piece with something smaller to see if it will stick to it until this morning. Thank you for your encouragement. I think I can do it too. It's just figuring out the pieces.