Yesterday I forged out a pair of pick-up tongs. I used 5/8" coil spring as usuall. These are for a large job of repeat work that I should be starting on in the week or so. I'll be forging A LOT of 1-inch round chunks under the power hammer.





They are nice and springy and long so that I can fish the pieces out of the fire. (I need to build a small gas forge so I can stick 10 chunks in the fire at once.) I think they'll do the job!

great job

Nice tongs Dave! When I read the title of the post I thought what a great idea. I drop stuff all the time and the older I get, the harder it is to bend over and pick them up. HAHAHA, what a dummy I am!

They look great.

MArk <><

Nice pair of tongs, Dave!

so those are meant just for moving a piece around, not grasping it firmly as it is hammered upon?

By the end of the day I'm using tongs to pick things up off the floor and I can roll a hammer with my foot until the handle sticks straight up too.

No they do not grip firmly. They are used for moving things around in the fire, picking things up off the ground, or in my case, keeping a piece of steel from moving around under the power hammer. I need to forge 200 round discs, starting with 1-inch round bar 1-inch long and hammering it down to about 3/8-inch thick. With these tongs I can grab the piece out of the fire, position it under the hammer dies, and hammer it while still holding onto the piece. As the piece bulges and gets bigger, I can move to a different part of the tong jaws to keep a snug and comfortable fit.

I was wondering how big a hammer you had ifn you were going to forge a pickup, even the little 4 bangers require quite a bit of space between the dies...

I was wondering how big a hammer you had ifn you were going to forge a pickup, even the little 4 bangers require quite a bit of space between the dies...

You're nuts! It's a 60 LB Kinyon. I could probably make models though! (I'm now accepting donations to reconfigure the air system......)

I would buy those tongs and pay freight too. Mark, I am even lazier, to pick up dropped stuff around my forge I have a litter grabber thing, it only takes one hand.and I use it a lot.

Dave, a question. Why do you use coil spring material for tongs?

because it is ( usually) 5160 which has more carbon in it making it stronger ( though brittler) and so it will bend out of shpe less easily when using the tongs.....they also allow one to make very light tongs as strong as much heavier(bulkier) mild steel tongs...
hope this was of use!

alec

Just don't quench repeatedly after use- eventually they will break!

Hell I was thinkin about using them to get a cold one out of the fridge from my easy chair, when NASCAR is on
GREAT JOB for sure....

Looks like I missed some old posts here. Alec covered me though! Thank man!

I use the coil spring because it is more resilient than mild and it doesn't cost as much as carbon steel stock.
It is not tempered, it is not quenched. Even when air cooled the spring steel provides a strong pair of tongs, that are light, won't bend unless undue stress is applied, have a nice spring which helps provide great grip, and are comfortable.

The tongs are in and out of the fire alot because of what I make with them. They can get cherry red! NEVE EVER EVER EVER quench tongs that aren't mild steel. That's an awesome way to break them. Really, you shouldn't even quench off the mild steel tongs.

Having said that, when my tongs get a little warm, an ultra fast dunc helps keep the temperature down and SO FAR I havn't had any break. ULTRA FAST though!

*RRRRAAAGGGGHHH* Brrraaaaiiiiinnnnsssss. Sorry letting the zombies out again, Dave I have a question of the length of material you start with. I'm getting ready to make a pair of hammer tongs using the same material and as your tongs are very similiar to what i'm going to make I figured you might be able to help me with cutting off enough. I guesstimated about 10" should make me a decent enough pair of tongs once drawn out and shaped and all. Hopefully you still remember years later what you started with? If not ah well lol.

Dave hasn't visited Iforge since 2022 largely because he is ONE successful and busy professional blacksmith. Sooooo, try searching, "Fiery Furnace Forge" his business name hasn't changed it should show right up.

Here's a trick I use with reasonable success for estimating how much steel to use to duplicate a thing. I weigh it and add 10-15% depending on how many heats I think it'll require. 

Forging out the reins on tongs will take a few heats unless you have BIG hammer so I'd go with +15% and a bit. Weigh a pair, add 15% and divide by 2.

Steel weight a nominal 0.28lbs./ cubic inch so it's easy to determine how much new stock to use. 

Of course if you don't cut the stock from the parent bar until you finish the tong half you don't have to weigh, calculate anything. Finish the first one and use it to match the second half to. Hmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

Ahh ok I will look for him. Yea I can work out square and rectangle stock, but for whatever reason round is just beyond my grasp to get how to make calculations about changing shape. I'll get it just gotta find an explanation that makes sense to me... Thanks Frosty.

You're over thinking it Buddy, just weigh the tongs and use that much +15% or so new stock. No need to calculate anything more than dividing a stick of new stock into suitable lengths. 

A call to the steel yard will tell you what you need to know. Say you're using 5/8" sq hot rolled mild, it's sold in 20' sticks which weigh X lbs. It'ss just simple math. 20' x 12 = 240 inches.

Frosty The Lucky.