Chris C

Finished a little pair of tongs to be used for 1/4"-5/16" S-hooks and such.

Well good on you!  Looks as if it worked out for ya.

Looks great, Jennifer!

You'll be surprised how "drafty" your shop is.  Most people have no idea how many air leaks they have in  their homes..............but their fireplaces wouldn't burn if the houses were air tight.  I wouldn't over think your chimney problem.  If you find you don't have enough draft, then crack your door a bit.

Indeed!!!!!!

Certainly could be, but the reason I rushed to the conversion site was because the article I read indicated "tonnes" and I didn't know how much those weighed.  Oh well, that's what I get for trying to be accurate!   Especially when I don't know what I'm talking about.

Just looked that term up and by golly, you are right.

I don't claim to be a whiz in math, Steve.  Here's a screen shot of where I got that figure.

Arkie, I apologize.  You are correct.  Would have sworn I knew where the article was that said 127,000 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate......but I can't find it.    Actually it was 2,750 tonnes, just like you said, which converts to 3,031.356 American tons.  Which is 757.84 times the amount Timothy McVeigh used to blow up our building.  I was sitting inside a concrete block building 10 miles away when it blew and doors rattled, calculators and typewriters (yes, we were still using that kind of ancient equipment) danced around on desks and telephones jumped off the hook.  I sure wouldn't have wanted to experience the bomb in Beirut!  

Well, while I "thought" they were my design, I actually saw a pair at a friend's forge.................so someone made them long before I.  I was just prompted by the ones I saw in the video.  But like you say, they will be versatile, I think.

Thanks Chellie.  If my memory were better I'd know the name.  The video I stumbled onto that gave me the general idea labeled them with some country's name.................like Egyptian Tongs.  (but that wasn't it.)  I've tried every search word I can think of to find that video again to no avail.

Thanks, guys.  I think they'll work a treat for me.  It's funny..............thought these were my own design, but took them to a friends shop for suggestions during the making and he had a pair hanging on his rack.   Does anyone know what these are called?  (friend didn't know) I've had a couple of people ask, but I have no idea.

Looks good so far.  Gray paint for the exterior will really make it pop.  Fun to put on a new pair of "pants".

127,000 tons of the stuff.  Timothy McVeigh only used 4 tons of it when he blew up the Murrah building here in Oklahoma City.  That was some scary explosion in Beirut!!!

Well, they were complicated for me. 

They aren't pretty, but they danged sure work.  Started with 3/4" sq bar, 8" long for each half.  That's a piece of 3/4" bar in the jaws.  They securely hold from 5/8" square to 1 1/4" square............and the same with round.  Top jaw is split like a snake's tongue.  I'm happy with them and they'll fill a gap I have in tong sizes.  Reins are 16".  These sure do make a guy yearn for a power hammer!

Gotchya.  I try and make everything I create...........no matter the end use...........to be a bragging piece.  But that doesn't always happen.  When it doesn't, it reminds me of what my old furniture making mentor told me.  He said something along the lines of "The reputation of a furniture builder isn't based on how 'perfect' every piece is, it's based on how professionally he can cover up his mistakes".   I've seen a lot of dovetails cut by well known historical furniture builders that have a "sliver" spacer in them to make the joint tighter.  Good materials were too precious to scrap because of a minor slip with the chisel.  Quaker furniture builders would always have a minor imperfection in their work...........even if they had to put it there intentionally, because only God is perfect.

I'm beginning to realize that, Thomas.  I've been so hung up on the "traditional" that I failed to realize blacksmiths "of old", as well as modern blacksmiths are just people who seem to find a way to "git'er done" no matter what it takes.  "The end justifies the means", I've come to realize.  So I don't feel so guilty when I have to reach for a file to get rid of something "in the way" when checking the function of new tongs.  It's quicker than firing up the forge and hammering the offending bump out of the way.

It can be corrected at the anvil....................but a good file does a great job also.  Just get rid of the offending metal. 

I was just teasing, Thomas, (of course I'm sure you knew that) because Carhart Bib's are what I wear at the forge.

Well I bet he's going to be happy with that, for sure.

Takes a good man to stand up like that.

JB Weld has saved my bacon more than once.  I've been known to replace holes in things like that housing with it.  Get either the inside or outside of that gap bridged by cutting up a pop/beer can and using it as a backing.  Then lather the JB Weld in and wait for it to set up.  Then get out your grinder and grind out what doesn't look like blower housing.  You'll have to get the housing sparkling clean before you start.  Mix up a quart of ATF and a quart of Coleman camp stove fuel 50/50 and then add a pint of SeaFoam.  Put that housing in a bucket with that mixture and leave it for a week or so.  It'll come clean.  Then you can make it new.

It's lookin' good, Jennifer.  Projects like that go slow when you're working by yourself.  I know........been there done that, pretty much all my life.

That's a great suggestion, Frosty.  I wouldn't have thought of that.  (of course, I'm not a great thinker!)

Have a good trip.  Make some good money on the blower.

Very interesting.  You may think you have adequate ventilation, but it sure doesn't sound like it.  Just my opinion.