SinDoc

Ah, Hookaville at Legend Valley. I used to live in that area and man, when that event was going on there was always soo many cars pulled over down 70 being searched.

My go to for head phones is usually Sennheiser. I am sure they would have some Bluetooth enabled headphones that offer noise cancelling.

Quick question for you JHCC, the tongs you posted in your first post, do you have problems with the bar wiggling up/down when you are trying to forge say, a tang?

I managed to watch that video while I ate dinner (got busy on lunch). Seems fairly straight forward to make them. Now I just have to find the time to get out and try to make them.

While I didn't get to forge, I was out in the shop cleaning up and had some Starset, Beartooth (good ol local band) and some Queen because why not.

They are. I really like the song they did with Neil Fallon from Clutch.

I see. I have always heard Volbeat referred to as rockabilly, but I guess they are primarily rock.

Billy, by rockabilly do you happen to mean Volbeat? 

George, Corvus Corax, now there is a band name I have not heard in a LONG time. I used to really enjoyed listening to them in high school.

My favorite album is probably Anima with 46 and 2 being my favorite song.

O a fellow Tool fan? I have actually been listening to Fear Inoculum today.

I personally quickly learned that the sound of the forge running, along with the constant ting, ting, ting of the metal on the anvil can almost drive you insane. So I listen to music while working.

What do the rest of you listen to while working in the forge? I myself am a fan of rock and heavy metal (no pun intended). I tend to listen to: Bring Me the Horizon, We Came As Romans and Breaking Benjamin. When I REALLY get in the headbanging mood, it is Amon Amarth, Slipknot, Lamb of God etc.

Ironically, Adlai is listed as the contact . I asked in the knife group I follow on Facebook and if I don't get anything from that, I will reach out to Adlai directly.

I just did that search myself out of curiosity as and much to my surprise, there is apparently a chapter in Columbus, the M.O.B. Their website doesn't appear to have been updated since...well I honestly can't tell. I am sure if I reached out to Adlai he could clue me in if they are still an active group or not.

Cool. I will watch it when I head to lunch soon. I love watching blacksmith videos while munching on my sandwich 

Yes that lol. I have been using it mostly to make hooks and little things from but thought I could probably make tongs from them, although I wasn't 100% positive if 5/8 would be enough material or if I would need 3/4.

I have several pieces of 3-4' long 5/8 round stock (welding rod?) that my father gave me that he had bought from Lowes awhile back and didnt end up using that I wanted to try making the tongs from once the confidence and motivation show up. I am planning on attending Quad-State and hopefully can snag a few goodies (and see Thomas' fabled hat).

Yeah flat bar (one day Ill get my terminology right). Wasn't sure if making the grip more refined on the jaws would help or not. I really do need to get/make another set or two of tongs as I mostly work with flat bars and 5/8 rounds. I have been watching several videos on how to make tongs. I recently watched one from Blackbear Forge that I believe I seen you just posted in another thread, but I have not yet built up the confidence to try making a set.

Currently the only pair of tongs I own are a pair of Picard's Wolf Jaw tongs I purchased off Amazon. They work well for the most part, but have problems holding onto flat stock unless I squeeze the crap out of them (I need to make a pair of tong clips). Is there any modifying I can do to the jaws to give them a better grip? I thought about grinding into them and making the "teeth" more pronounced, but wanted to see if that would work before I go hogging material off of them. Anyone have some ideas and/or happen to own the same pair I do?

I REALLY need to make myself more tongs rather than trying to use one pair for everything. 

Nothing against them at all! I just don't currently have one for metal and only PVC 

Funny side story, whenever I wanted to help my late grandfather in the wood shop when I was younger, he would make me cut the boards to length and such with a hacksaw instead of a table saw because, and I quote "If you can't do it with the hand tool, you have no right to use a powered tool".

I have a handful of bimetal blades for my sawzall, but it might rattle the teeth out of my head lol. I will probably use it to cut the pieces into smaller, more manageable lengths, then give hot cutting a try since I have never done it. I have overcomplicated the living daylights out of this.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it, I have several used/burnt up sawzall blades laying around. Wonder if I can do anything with them. Must do research.

Now that I think about it, I wonder after I anneal it if the cutter attachment I have for my drill could snip through it. 1/8 thickness might be pushing what those cutters could handle though.

Not using the angle grinder was more due to me not being comfortable trying to use it to cut that way. I don't mind grinding, sanding or flap disc, but I have a strong dislike for cutting disc.

I do have a chisel/punch set I bought awhile back that is still in the box. Guess I will give hot cutting a try! 

That is very fair Thomas! A band saw is close to the top on my to buy list.

JHCC - .125 (1/8th inch) thick.

I had thought about that, but I quickly dismissed it since I have yet to really come close to making a successful knife and have only tried forge welding once (without success). It may seem though that if I want to use this material at all, I just might have to bite the bullet and give it a go.