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How do you make tongs WITHOUT tongs?


jcornell

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Beginning smith here - I've had two sets of classes - got the bug. I have an anvil that I'm rehabilitating, a hammer, and I'm building a gas forge. In my last class we started making tongs, but I ran out of time.

How do you build tongs without having tongs to hold the metal?

My first thought is to go to Harbor Freight Tools and buy vise-grip knock-offs and use them until the spring goes slack.

Surely there's an answer other than "go to Blacksmith Depot and buy some."

BTW, who has decent tongs for sale at less than $30 a pop?

Suburban Maryland - zipcode 20878

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I will send you a PM (private message) with suggestions on locations near you to purchase affordable tongs and other tools. Please check your PM.

PS: You could also go to the monthly Open Forge Nights and monthly meetings at the Carroll County Farm Museum http://www.bgcmonline.org/ and finish making your tongs there. Or you could use your HF vise grips to finish making your tongs. Lots of options. :D

Edited by UnicornForge
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You can make a serviceable set of tongs from 1/4 x 3/4 flat bar. Start with 2 pieces of flat bar. Drill a hole 3 inches from the end and bolt or rivet them together. Heat the short end (the 3 inches) in the forge to a good medium red to orange, put them 1-1/2 inches of the metal in the vise. Place the bending wrench just below the rivet and give it a 90 degree twist between the rivet and the vise. While the metal is still hot, grip the type stock you plan to use the tongs to hold and form the end of the tongs around that shape, round, square, etc. Takes longer to type out the procedure than to make the tongs. :)

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Forged tongs cost similar from everybody I've found online.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f92/poz-tong-method-15672/

Without tongs or advanced tools you start using a piece of 1x1/4 large enough to make 2 complete half tongs (16-18 inch long). You start by marking how much metal you are going to work with, then draw out the reins first on both ends of the bar. This involves working one end at a time and cooling before you switch ends.

After the reins are drawn out to similar desired length, measure the metal in between and cut either in half or cut enough for you to form the desired jaw type if you left a lot of extra. While you have both tong halves side by side, make them as identical to each other as you can. Mark for forming the jaws, leaving adequate material for the hinge, and form the jaws as identical to each other as you can.

Last locate the pivot point for the hinge rivet and mark it with a center punch. Then either drill or hot punch and bolt or rivet the hinge.

Don't try welding reins onto tongs until you are welding on a regular basis. It's not worth the frustration. Also try to leave the hinge area as heavy as possible. This improves the durability of the tongs. It is very easy to get carried away drawing metal out.

YouTube - Forging Blacksmith Tongs
This is a helpful, if dry voice over, video. The only difference is that you start with one long piece of metal so it can be held at the cold end.

Or you can buy laser cut tong blanks from
Polar Bear Forge

Phil

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We are suggesting ways to make tongs but in many cases, tongs are NOT needed in many situations.

Do not cut the stock short, leave it long and use the extra length as a handle. You can weld a piece of scrap to the end of the stock to serve as a handle. Both of these methods work well, do not slip, and give you good control.

Vise grips (locking pliers) can be clamped and locked onto the work piece as a handle. If they get overly warm to the touch, cool them with water.

Different forges and different fires require different techniques. The same 1/4 x 1-1/2 x 18 inch piece of metal used with my small forge (4 inch diameter firepot) heats only about 6 inches of stock. This makes the rest of the metal available to be used as a handle. My large forge (13 inch diameter firepot) gets the entire length of the metal too hot to handle with bare hands as the end gets up to working temperature. A gas forge has it's own problems with heating the entire length of metal either through heat transfer or through the dragon's breath.

You can use a heat shield to block the heat from reaching the stock not in the fire. This can be as simple as a piece of 4x6 inch metal on the end of a handle. Just place it over the stock to block or deflect the heat of the forge.

A water bottle can be used to selectively cool sections of the stock and isolate the heat to only the area being forged.

Having the correct size and shape tongs in order to securely hold the stock you are working with is a safety issue. Whether you make tongs, buy new tongs, or pick tongs up at the flea market and rework them, they are a tool, a convenient way to hold stock. Do not get trapped in the box of only being able to use tongs to hold stock because there are many ways to solve the problem.

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As a starting hobbyist with a monthly budget of about $100 buying tongs is expensive. I still bought a pair, and probably will buy another pair in January.

I am in the process of making another pair, but started with heavier than necessary material (1/2 x 1 inch) so drawing out is a very time consuming process. I have also made a pair from 1/2 inch square stock, but the jaws are so small I have only been using them to hold short tools and as pickup tongs. For those I flattened the hinge area to about 3/8 inch and punched after forming the jaw and drawing the reins round. They are not pretty though, and you can tell where I started "getting" hammer control on them

Phil

Glenn is right, start with a 3 or 4 ft bar so you have a cool handle to hold onto. When forming the jaws, the drawn rein will conduct less heat than the bar since the cross section is smaller, and you will be taking a more local heat. Water the held end to keep it cool too.
Phil

Edited by pkrankow
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My 2 cents I know how hard it is getting started with nothing. So you come up with ways that work for you. I started out with vice grips and channel locks. As stated you can start with longer material than you need do your forging and cut them off when done I found 1/4 x 3/4 strap works real good. I have made scrolling tongs out os railroad spikes. That is the great thing about being a blacksmith you can make your own tools. You will find that you will make tongs for jobs as you need them. Before you know it you will have lots of sets of tongs.

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Definitely start with stock that is long enough to make both halves of the tongs and work one end at a time. I bought 4 feet of 1/4 inch by 1 inch stock and cut it in half, that way I could work both havles at the same time to keep them similar while having plenty of cool handle to hold on to. In my brake drum forge, I have no problem heating just the end that needs to be worked. I haven't cut out slots on the side of my forge, so to heat the center I have to pile the charcoal in there.

Check every flea market and antique shop you come across and ask people at work. (Carry pictures of what you are looking for, because we are two generations removed from people who actually did this stuff and most folks look at you funny when you say your are looking for blacksmith tongs). Also, everyone at work who "goes yard saling" has permission to purchase tongs sight unseen for around $10 and I will buy them no questions asked.

For me, a distant relative found one set in his barn and donated them. I bought 1 set of bolt head tongs that were hanging on a fence for $2. I bought one set of tongs for $12.50. I'm making my first set now. Trying to use channel locks and vice grips got frustrating really quickly for me. Good luck with your own tong search!

Mark

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For myself, I have made 3 pair of tongs so far, a small set that holds 1/8" to 1/4" square or round, a large set of flat tongs for flat stock of various sizes, and a medium set that holds 1/4" to 3/8" round or square. All made with vise grips. Personally I like the vise grips. My third pair most definitely looks better than my first. But all three are still ugly. Not like Mr. Sarvers at all. However they work. By, the way that reminds me. Need to buy a few sets of yours Grant.

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I've been smithing going on 29 years now and have made 1 set of tongs, (I forged them from Ti!), repaired a bunch of old ones and have picked up some new ones in IITH.

If I see tongs at the fleamarket and they are not trashed I will buy them at $5 or less on spec. If they are a good commercially made tong in a pattern I like to use I might go to $10. I will go to $10 on ones very close to medieval examples I have seen too for my LH forge kit. I pass on heavy crude ugly tongs

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Flea markets, garage sales, auctions, automotive swap meets, estate sales, and Craigslist are some places to find affordable tongs. I have found numerous blacksmithing items at automotive swap meets-more than old cars in them thar barns. I also bought out an estate sale of all of its blacksmithing gear that I found on Craigslist. I have paid around $5 , or less, for the ones I have picked up.

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I think that somewhere there are words that go something like this..... ask and it will given to you, seek and you will find and knock and it will open up for you. That's the way it is with most of the blacksmith gear I have gather over the years. I have asked for it, sought it out and knocked on a few doors, but never paid a whole lot for it except a first when I fat, dumb and ugly and didn't know better, now I'm just fat and ugly.LOL It's out there and a lot of folk don't know what it is, how much it is worth or just don't want it around anymore, so take advantage of their ignorance but don't cheat them.

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I like the way you think.
I often ask myself the same type questions so that if I am ever stranded on a desert Island I can start my own civilization again or at least take advantage of my time to day dream about philosophical or scientific puzzles. For reference, you should measure your knuckles ahead of time so that you can re-establish a unit of measure.

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I had a go at making tongs and they turned out okay except I got the pin hole in the wrong place and the purchase point was not sufficient to hold large objects. It was fun making them. Welded the holes and tried again. I am on a pension and have very little money so I am always looking for scrap metal and made mine out of three quarter inch square bar from an old farm machine.

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what size stock will you be using? i may have a few old pairs of 1/4,5/16 and 1/2 tongs in the bottom of my traveling competition box. diamond and mustands. might even be a set of jim poor's flatland forge tongs that i missed my mark and mangled.

Mainly 1/4" and 3/8" round and square stock while building up my skills.
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  • 3 weeks later...

All your need is a welding machine, round or square rod, and a pair of cheep pliers. Weld the rod on the handle of the pliers and there you go, you have a pair tongs to get started with. I wouldn't use them on round or square stock, but they will get you started to make a pair for use and are great for digging lost items out of the forge.

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