bourne101 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 i'm about to begin my first project on a forge, and since i have no tongs i was going to make a set of tongs using the blueprints on a website. i'm going to be using a peice of 1/8 by 1 inch stock thats going to be about 3 feet long and since i'm only going to be heating the ends i was wondering how far your hand should be from the glowing end of the metal (wearing some welding gloves). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat pete Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 first thing i wouldnt wear gloves, there are a few reasons why. gloves must be able to be removed quickley, they should only be cotton (so they can burn not melt) they should be loose so you can remove them quickley when they catch fire. Leather and other plastic materiels can boil you hands...plastic melts and sticks. Best to do this with bare hands. sometimes i use a glove on my holding hand but never on the hammer hand, messes up your grip. I figure to get started I bought and borrowed a couple of tongs. I have made a couple pair and they are fun to make. but i do not wanna be a tong expert so i will modify an old tong gotten cheap as opposed to make a set. I believe the reigns are usuually 18" long so if you have three feet of metal that will make 1 set of tongs. Just be careful with the glove thing....use your hands. most make the tong end and forge weld the reigns to the tong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Do NOT wear gloves, that way when the metal gets hot ---> turn it loose. Gloves hold the heat and continue to transmit heat into the hand after you drop the hot metal. Depending on the forge you can heat only a few inches with a small coal forge, or quite a long section if the metal is in the dragon's breath of the gas forge. You can also use water to isolate the heat to just the working area of the metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourne101 Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 the firepot on my coal forge is only about 10 inches wide so it's fairly small. and about the gloves...when you say a cotton glove you mean like a cotton oven mit right? i've got a bunch of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 No not an oven mit, a pair of 100% cotton work gloves if you can't get a set of cotton hot work gloves. Even so I will not wear a glove on my hammer hand save in extreme cold weather and then it's a light thin leather one so I still can grip the hammer handle properly. Having a glove on that makes you clumsy is more of a danger than not having a glove! I'm not sure how you want to make this set of tongs but 1/8 seems awfully thin to me. Are you sure that's the right dimension? When I teach smithing my students start out with a 2' piece of 1/4" sq stock and have no problem holding it in a bare hand even using a gasser. If the end starts to get warm you dunk it in a bucket of water---leaving the hot end out so you don't loose all your heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourne101 Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 your right 1/8 is pretty thin but that was what the blue prints said. i may just use 1/4 by 1 inch and i was not going to wear the glove on my hammer hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I would be using 1/4" by 1" stock to make some tongs and draw the reins out then twist and offset the jaws and stick a rivet in, done. Very simple but effective. You only need about a foot of stock for each half as the reins extend quite a way when drawing out as they end up about 1/4" round at the end. As for the gloves, forget them. Its best to hold the metal in a bare hand. If its too hot to hold then get some tongs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I wear gloves, the gauntlet gloves they sell at HF. A quick flick of the wrist and they are off the hand and on the floor. There are advantages to wearing them as well as disadvantages. Try it both ways and see what you are more comfortable with. Gloves will not make you careless nor will not wearing them make you careful. That is a function of your brain not a piece of leather. Until you get your tongs made, use a pair of vice grips to grab the end of the steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourne101 Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 ok thanks for the help everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Well I'm going to disagree with Woody; wearing gloves will tend to get you in the habit of holding steel that's hotter than you can bear without them. Some day you will not be wearing them or they will have a hole and you'll grab a piece *by habit* and regret it. Not wearing gloves puts you in the habit of using tongs or checking the steel temp every time before touching it---you never just grab a piece with your hand. Habits are very strong and so instilling safe ones is a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Thomas you can disagree all you like but gloves are an individual preference, wearing them don't make you careless or stupid, and not wearing them won't make you careful or smart. That is a function of the brain not a piece of leather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I'm with Woody here. After 20+ years in the steel manufactruing trade, I won't go into the shop without gloves. True, heat will shrink leather quickly but with or without gloves, you HAVE to be careful working with metal, hot or cold. Cold steel can have sharp edges and no matter how careful you are or how mild the steel, it will cut flesh. I know I'm with the minority, but hot or cold, I won't work steel without gloves. If for no other reason, working metal with suck the moisture out of your hands quickly, eventually leaving them cracked, chapped and bleeding, and the women don't like that so much, and frankly, I'm a pansy when it comes to cracked and bleeding fingers and knuckles. Its personal preference in deed! Go bare handed. they're your hands. Gloves have served me well on mine, not to mention the reduced consumtion of soap, hand lotion and band-aides. Heres were I'll get all kind of comments suggesting I don't use soap LOL, but I did say "reduced" not eliminate :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Thompson Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 If you wear gloves people will point at you and nudge each other!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 After 29 years smithing I've seen a lot of gloved smiths foul up due to the habits they have learned. Much worse burns than I've ever had. Like watching smiths that do almost all their work in mild steel try to work the tool steels. Sure they know it's different but their habits are set on the mild stuff. I have the opposite problem; I started in bladesmithing and so tend to treat mild like high carbon---not as much problem with the outcome; but less efficient. I'll agree that it's personal preference; though for fun you might go into a machining forum and extol glove wearing in a steel manufacturing trade... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Thompson Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 There's a very good method of making tongs in 'The Blacksmith's Craft' and several using power hammers in 'Illustrated Manual'. These books are worth downloading:Craft publications Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Thomas, I was mainly a welder but I am fully aware of the dangers of wearing gloves, loose clothing, jewelry, etc around machinery. Doesn't change my opinion about gloves in my shop tho. And, BTW, I still wore gloves while running a cnc drill. Those drill shavings cut gloves just as easy as skin, but the gloves were cheaper :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.