Hi, Grant. I am considering picking up some duck bill style tongs for flat stock. On the Blacksmiths Depot sight it says that they can handle up to 1 1/2" thickness, and depending on the size tong, up to 3" wide. Does that mean it would also work for larger square stock? Would a 1" tong handle 1" square?

Also, what's the range that the tongs can comfortably handle? For example, can that 1" handle 3/4 and 1 1/4?

Lastly, 16" vs 18". I would guess that the 16"s are lighter and springier?

Thanks.

Eric

Those are for flat bar and are limited to the width (not thickness) of stock you are working. So if you get a 2" pair, you can work from 2 x 1/8 the way up to 2 x 1/2. Square stock won't go at all. The ones with the smaller reigns are indeed "springier", and are great.

Those are for flat bar and are limited to the width (not thickness) of stock you are working. So if you get a 2" pair, you can work from 2 x 1/8 the way up to 2 x 1/2. Square stock won't go at all. The ones with the smaller reigns are indeed "springier", and are great.

Thanks for your reply Nuge. In rereading the description on the site I realized that I misread it originally. It's up to 1/2" thick and I read that as 1 1/2"! Sigh.

That said, how much flexibility is there in the range of width? Can the 2" tongs handle 1 1/2", etc? I was thinking of getting the 1" and 2" to hand a range of stock. In your experience how would that be? Thanks.

The tongs are about standard as far as flexibility. You can grab something a bit smaller (not much) and maybe 1/2 or 3/4 bigger before the reins start getting hard to grasp. you'll do well with those two sizes. flat bar is so useful and hard to grab. these do a good job but it is all they will tong.

Yeah, guess tongs really need to specialized to some degree. Thanks for your input. Think I'll buy those two and try to make some for other square stock sizes. See how that goes.

Your question got me thinking about why I love flat bar so much. When you forge metal you are changing the cross section of the material and that's the appeal. With flat bar this is so much more drastic given what you start with, and uses much less effort to change the dimensions. Used as a visual element it's brilliant,a long taper out of 1/2 x 2 is pretty tasty looking and you get the same impact as 2 x 2 with way less effort. If you are forging by hand you get a lot of "bang for your buck".