I am a new bladesmith and have very rudimentary equipment. In my first attempt at forging, I found that the tongs (a.k.a. the longest pair of needle nose pliers I could find) I found that they are in fact ill suited to the task of grasping the hot metal without two hands. So I have been forced to ask for the help of a friend to hold the metal while I hammer out a blade. But sometimes he is not available. So what can I use to hold the metal by myself until such a time when I have the ability to forge my own tongs?

To clarify, I with am making blades out of rail road spikes which are pretty thick. Also, I can't make tongs unless I have good ones. My friend and I are still having communication problems (where to put the blade, how to turn it, etc.) I've looked at GS tongs but not nakedanvils. But I guess I'll try GS tongs when I get the money.

Edited August 6, 200916 yr by chuckster2.0

GS Tongs! You won't be disappointed...No, I'm not affiliated, just a happy customer...

Forge a couple pair of tongs, it'll be good practice, produce some useful tools and you can build some basic skills with less expensive material than tool steel.

Win win.

Frosty

If you are into blades then as a start you should forge a couple of pairs of tongs out of some mild steel. They are a great exercise in forging principals and, of course, will be really handy for your blades.

Have a look in the Blueprints for some patterns for tongs.

Cheers

Get a pair of vise grips. They should work till you can build a pair of tongs. Keep the tongs or vise grips cool by dipping them into water while you take another heat on the metal.

Or you can tack weld a "handle" to your stock and use that and just cut it off when you're done---what we did when I was forging down some 30# chunks of steel into stake anvil shafts.

Or weld some extensions on a normal pair of pliers, grind the teeth down so as not to mark up your work.

I found some articles and some pics on twisting flat stock to make tongs.

Blacksmithing Tips - How to Forge a Pair of Tongs

Make steel Forging Tongs

Any opinion on if this is easier/better for a first/temporary set than making out of round or square? I know better tongs can be made with added skill out of round or square stock.

Phil

I found some articles and some pics on twisting flat stock to make tongs.

Blacksmithing Tips - How to Forge a Pair of Tongs

Make steel Forging Tongs

Any opinion on if this is easier/better for a first/temporary set than making out of round or square? I know better tongs can be made with added skill out of round or square stock.

Phil

They work okay though the jaws tend to flex if they aren't fitted to the work just right.

I have a pair of slip joint pliers with rod handles welded on. They were in a bucket of tongs I picked up with some other smithing tools and I kept my nose solidly turned up to them. Until one day they were the only thing close and I needed tongs NOW.

They work great as general tongs and are one of my most used pair. Just think about it, I let MY impression of what "Proper" blacksmith's tongs SHOULD be rule and ignored a very useful tool for probably a decade.

THAT me buckos is the price of prejudice, arrogance, and preconceived notions. I was SO sure of what was proper it never even occured to me they were in a bucket of tongs used daily by a working blacksmith and they were, when I got them, the most used.

People who keep their heads stuck in what SHOULD BE instead of what IS are SHOULD HEADS.

Frosty

While I would agree that forging tongs is an important skill that a blacksmith should have, but when you are starting out having a few pair of good tongs can really help you out. The tongs that Grant (Nakedanvil) makes are inexpensive and well made and provide a benchmark for you when you make your own. They are available at most of the blacksmith suppliers.

Edited August 6, 200916 yr by JNewman

If you don't have anything to use for tongs, here's a quickie idea I came up with. They don't hold as well as well made tongs but work in a pinch and will allow you to handle hot stuff safely.

The tongs that Grant (Nakedanvil) makes are inexpensive and well made and provide a benchmark for you when you make your own.

I have a pair of Grant's "bladesmith" tongs - gooseneck vee-bit with a slight offset. I am very satisfied with them.

Frosty,
you echo my experience with extended pliers, they simply work, and I have been teased about them from other smiths, but somehow I put out 2-3 times as many projects as any of them. To them I say " pffffflllllbbbbbb"

Mike:

Did you turn your nose up at them till in a moment of great need gave them a try?

I think they're the only pair of tongs always on the ready rack.

Life can be so humbling sometimes.

Frosty

Frosty,
yup they sat on a rack for about a year, then 1 day...humble pie is nasty!!

Yeah, humble pie may taste like a cat's butt smells but it's good for a person now and then. I know I'm a whole lot more open to the odd and funny looking tool now.

Frosty

Paw Paw Wilson apparantly used to re-work slipjoint pliers into tongs. Gentlemen you're in good company!

Could one of you gents post a photo of a set of reworked slipjoints?

Here you go though I don't know how much good mere pics will do without detailed blueprints, specs and tolerances. It's a mighty high tech device you know.

Frosty

Thanks, Frosty. You're a regular humanitarian.

I had a feeelin' somebody was gonna give me a hard time about that. I just wanted to make sure I understood what you guys were talking about.

Thanks, Frosty. You're a regular humanitarian.

I had a feeelin' somebody was gonna give me a hard time about that. I just wanted to make sure I understood what you guys were talking about.

If course I'm a regular guy. I get plenty of fiber. Well, being so full of IT there isn't room for storage probably has something to do with it too.

Sometimes the simple things are harder to grasp from a description than more complicated ones. There's a part of my brain that keeps telling me, IT can't be THAT simple.

Frosty