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Posted

Hi guys, I'm kinda new here. What kind of material do you guys use for tong rivets? The tongs I have made in the past have 16 penny nails upset on each end. Thanks for all the info, this is a great sight.

Posted

I use mild steel. Nothing special. I have read in one of my blacksmithing books that the author uses small coil spring steel. The kind you get from a garage spring it looked like to me in the pictures. The class I took last year we were taught to use mild. So, there is a wide variety of opinions on this subject.

Posted

However most of the rivets on my tongs are a whole lot larger than a 16 penny nail! If you do force over area calculations you can see that if you use *small* rivets you may want to use stronger steels!

Many of my tongs have 3/8 to 1/2" dia rivets which seem to have lasted some for over 100 years.

Posted

Thanks guys, good advice. I do have some garage springs that i will try, and I like the idea of larger rivets.

Posted

I have used mild steel for many years without any problems. sometimes after 15 or 20 years they loosen a little, but easy to tighten them again. I like being able to make my own with soft material and simple tooling. You can make a mild steel header and just drill a hole for the size rivet you're making. I usually make 5/16 or 3/8 dia.

Posted

Hey Joseph,
Good question. I use mild steel. When I first started making tongs I used whatever I could find. I found that old bolts worked for me because one end was already upset so to speak. As I progressed I began making mine out of mild steel 3/8ths round stock. Practice, practice, practice. Good luck and have fun.

Mark<><

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