uglier than sin, new tongs

[junker]

so for some reason i am incapable of making tongs, everytime i try they end up some horrible convoluted non-working mess. so i kinda got sick of it and decided my work is going to keep suffering until i get a good set of tongs. only problem is a can't afford to buy a set. so i decided that since i've been welding longer that smithing i'd give that a try. so here they are, uglier that sin but they actually work and work darn good.

[edge9001]

function out ways beauty, especially when its for personal use, not resale. At least thats how I feel. You should see some of the blades I;ve made when I needed to cut something and couldn't find a knife. I've sharpenedta single edge, heated and quenched a piece of mild steel flat bar just to cut a piece of rope, only to reused that same bar later for a project.

[jimbob]

so for some reason i am incapable of making tongs, everytime i try they end up some horrible convoluted non-working mess. so i kinda got sick of it and decided my work is going to keep suffering until i get a good set of tongs. only problem is a can't afford to buy a set. so i decided that since i've been welding longer that smithing i'd give that a try. so here they are, uglier that sin but they actually work and work darn good.

instead of a square for the joint make a parallelogram from 3/8 x 1 stock about 1 inch long drill your hole in the center and the bit on one side and the handle on the other

[junker]

i was thinking to do that but the neighbor has my grinder with the cut of wheels, all i had was my portaban and that would be a major pain to try to make that out of.

[beth]

nice one - i agree with edge - they work and that is the main thing for starters. next ones can be prettier :)

[beth]

ps - ive never made any tongs ugly or otherwise so respect for your ugly as sin set!

[pkrankow]

Nice Gir-r-Done attitude. Look perfectly functional.
Phil

[Spears]

I needed a pair of wide jaw tongs like that just the other day. In fact, that welded construction idea hadn't crossed my mind until now. Rather than having to build myself some just like it, if you would be so kind as to discard that ugly pair; I got a plan to dig them out of the scrap barrel while no one is looking!! heh heh heh. The only thing I see wrong is the word "incapable" in the first sentence of your post. Suffering is gone!! Spears

[junker]

they're easy to do, but i do suggest the paralelogram for the center instead of the square, i just did that because of avaliable tools. and i just used an actual rivit and a rivit gun for the center, of course i had to hit it with the hammer a few times to get it as tight as i wanted also i'd like to use a little thicker steel on the reigns next time cause they fles a little too much for my liking when ur really bearing down on something.

[Bentiron1946]

Not as ugly as sin, actually sin most of the time is rather attractive, so no not ugly as sin but very functional. They look a lot like the crucible tong I used to make when I was doing bronze casting. Store bought crucible tongs were so expensive I would weld up something like that and get to pouring. Ugly, yes, functional, definitely. :P