Will you folks share how you set tong rivets without locking up the tongs?
Do you set them hot or cold?
Thanks
Dave

you set the rivet hot, and this inevitably locks them up. However, once you have the rivet in place the way the way you want it, heat up the plates and rivets again. Holding the reins work the tongs open and closed again and again. This loosens the rivet.

Karn3 hit the rivit on the head. Thats the best way I've found.

Been there and done that. Don't overheat, just to red then try, go hotter only if you need.

If you file the mating surfaces before riveting you can get a tighter joint that performs freely, but there is no point taking it apart.

Phil

Thanks guys, will report back tomorrow
Dave

Keep them moving back and forth while quenching in your slack tub.

That's the ticket!!!
Heated to orange and wiggled them open/closed a couple times then let the cool on their own.
Full range and smooth as my wife's...... well, you get the idea
Thanks!

Your wife makes tongs?!?!

Wife wears tongs.... or is it thongs, can't remember the difference in spelling! :)

Mine doesn't wear EITHER....
Eat your hearts out :)

so she wears granny panties??

When starting to work the rivets after they are set I always have trouble in bending of the reins near the rivet. It's hard to get the right area hot enough without this. Or am I heating to much. I guess I could quench up to the rivets... Thoughts?

You are :
a: heating too much
b: Riveting too tight
c: Mating faces are not smooth enought
d: quench almost to the rivets if your still having problems.

in " The Art of Blacksmithing" it is stated that one could place a piece of brown paper between the reigns before riveting then burn out the paper................. Ive never done this as I just keep working them until loose, but its an interesting bit of knowledge

reings is not correct there, sorry im tired, but you get what I mean

Rains? Reigns? Reins?

Seattle weather, what kings do, how to control horses... or tongs.

none of the above paper there would help with a tight rivet at all, I meant that in the book he suggested a piece of paper between the friction surfaces on the pivot points of the tongs lol............... if putting paper between your reins would help with anything I cant figure out what it would be

if the rivet is too tight take the tongs and swing them striking the rivet head smartly on the anvil. Do this several times and it should loosen up enough to allow the tongs to function. No need to normalize 54698 times, quench 33047540 times, anneal 34354507 times or have the anvil horn pointing North at exactly Midnight on the Vernal Equinox and you only need to worry about Grain Growth if you planted Wheat.

I built two sets of tongs last weekend and I do my riveting cold. This was done on tongs having 1/4" drilled holes through the flat sections which are 1/4" thick. I don't chamfer the holes but rather deburr and leave them sharp. I snip a 3/4" long piece of 1/4" diameter low carbon steel and lightly sand or polish the outer surface so it goes through the tongs easily.

Leaving 1/8" sticking out both sides I start by striking in the center of the rivet on the anvil. The tongs will come apart a little at first but are easily tapped back together by flipping the assembly over and keeping the rivet centered. When the tongs start to stay together and lock up I start peening at an angle around the edge of the rivet. This starts to mushroom out the rivet head and light repetitive tapping makes it rounded and attractive. It's simply done with a lighter weight hammer.

Opening up the tongs repeatedly to bottom out tends to loosen them up and let them work freely. If one requires a slight drag or a tighter tong just smack the center of the rivet. Beware if hammered to hard on center it will cause a lock up and can take quite a bit of working back and forth for them to go freely again.

I should probably do a progressive 8-10 picture report of this process but perhaps it won't work the same on tongs with pierced holes so I didn't regard it as a process of popular choice . Good luck with your tong riveting. Spears.

I am going to be making my first pair of tongs today or tomorrow. I will try the brown paper technique and let everyone know how it works for me.

Not ment to be snide or anything but if they are your first pair how will you know if the paper had any effect?

Pppssst this thread is from 3 year ago, and the OP has not been back here since,  just a FYI not to expect him to answer you anytime soon  lol

Lol guess I should pay better attention