Matt Marti Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 My first experience with "ultimate" tongs was when I worked with Daniel Lea at the end of July. They are interesting to because they can easily hold curved, tapers, curved tapers and all sorts of other shapes because of there design. So lately I have been working on a pair of my own and it has been a challenge. This pair I have been working on have did not work out due some over forging and jaw cutting issues. Things I would've done different Start at the jaws not the reins. Two sided taper from the arc to the Jaw. Make sure I do not over forge the arc. Take a bit more material for the v jaw. Forge the v jaw a good bit thinner. Get my cut in the v jaw correct from the get go. This is was a very frustrating part for me, if anyone has any suggestions on making it easier I have a open ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Greetings Matt. I have made several of this design.... Forge out enough material for the jaw... do not finish until both parts match... draw out the arch square to length do not finish round and keep straight no arch.... forge the hinge with an off anvil step.... again at the reign end... form round to match ... start to draw out the reigns but do not complete.... Compare to match... Now finish the jaw to fit your intended stock. ... Round up the square arch stock on the anvil horn and form the arch to match... Complete the reigns compare and punch for the rivet... Boy its hard to explain a step by step without drawings... I sure hope this helps... Forge on and make beautiful things... Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Marti Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Greetings Matt. I have made several of this design.... Forge out enough material for the jaw... do not finish until both parts match... draw out the arch square to length do not finish round and keep straight no arch.... forge the hinge with an off anvil step.... again at the reign end... form round to match ... start to draw out the reigns but do not complete.... Compare to match... Now finish the jaw to fit your intended stock. ... Round up the square arch stock on the anvil horn and form the arch to match... Complete the reigns compare and punch for the rivet... Boy its hard to explain a step by step without drawings... I sure hope this helps... Forge on and make beautiful things... Jim Thank you Jim. I will take this too account next go around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I think you can still save those. My first step would be to straighten the whole thing out. Then using the near side edge of your anvil, I would do a half-hammer blow to set a shoulder with the face of the jaw pointed downward. This will set up a nice shoulder to separate the boss from the jaw. Step two would be to move to the far side edge and set another shoulder with a half-hammer blow, but this time make it with the face of the jaw pointing up to the ceiling. Steps one and two will isolate the boss area (where the rivet goes) and give you a better idea of where you need to move metal. After that, I'd make step three all about shaping the jaws. First thing I'd want to do would be to form a sharper bend right off of the boss area. I'd start hammering it over the edge of the anvil, forming as much of a 90º bend as I could without thinning and flattening the stock too much. Then I'd rotate the piece a quarter turn and make the cross section more rectangular rather than circular. A cylinder is great for resisting bending from any direction, but tongs only have to resist along one plane. After that's settled a bit, I'd bend the jaws around a mandrel (pipe or anything that will give me a solid radius). At the vary least, I would make one jaw as perfectly curved as I wanted and then use it as a patter for the second, constantly checking and cold-bending a lot. Only after that would I try to work with the jaws. Mark Aspery has a great video on youtube that shows you how to move metal in an odd way. He's making a scrolling wrench, but the technique would apply to what you're trying to accomplish with the split jaw. Of course, you could simply quit now, hang the tongs in an obvious spot and use them as a reminder on how not to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 What's the appearance of a finished pair? Sayings and Cornpone From the days of Vaudeville. "Hey, you're hair's getting thin." "Who wants fat hair?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Marti Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 What's the appearance of a finished pair? Sayings and Cornpone From the days of Vaudeville. "Hey, you're hair's getting thin." "Who wants fat hair?" https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UQZEGs7dqBk/TL-YItBMTLI/AAAAAAAAzsQ/WIJAmA7hVMY/w1063-h709-no/IMG_0468.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uFobq97K94U/TL-YLhXAd4I/AAAAAAAAzsc/H8ZWWPlvjTs/w1063-h709-no/IMG_0469.JPG Hopefully that is enough to get the idea. Thank you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Ayup, those look like fine useful tongs. Well done. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 i made a new pair the other day with a little different approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobshagg Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 After reading though everything posted I see I'm going to have to try and make me a set as well. Perhaps I'll even get it right, after the fifth try lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Brian, may I ask if there is a reason, besides opening the jaws wider you place the rivet back behind the wide elbo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Yes there is, Charles. The bulge of the hole is out of the way so I can set the angles and the lines easier, and like with my hammer tongs, which can get misaligned sometimes, it allows them to be realigned easier or adjusted with ease. This last approach with the "Habermann bends" makes this all a lot easier also as opposed to just the bends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Thank you sir. Spending a week wit you is on my bucket list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 You're welcome, we'd love to have you come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakesshop Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I may try a pair of this design sometime too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5starhobo (blake) Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Thanks for the wonderful pics brian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gaddis Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 IF people will look closely at your tongs Brian they may notice that you keep everything round until the last minute as you make the Habermann corner. Many of us that have made these without the pictures make the mistake of drawing out the pinchers as rectangles and end up with all sorts of catty-whompus shaped objects.Just saying....but your pics show a good working story here.Carry on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Matt............"....and from the ashes arises a Phoenix...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natkova Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Just keep doing and you will get good results. After more and more time failure it will suprise you when you suddenly success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Marti Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Just keep doing and you will get good results. After more and more time failure it will suprise you when you suddenly success. Yes natkova, its taking me a couple of tries. Even tho I fail with those tries I learn with the failure.. Although its a bit disheartening to have your project fail multiple times because you are ignorant but you just have to keep on trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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