I'm looking for the best steel to use for tongs. Specifically I want a steel that is (decently) easy to forge but still gives good strength for tongs. Mild steel is very easy and when I was first starting out I made some mild steel tongs that are passable but not quality enough for me. Any recommendations??

I like 4140.

Medium high carbon steel or even salvaged 5160 spring, coil being the best shape for tong stock will give you the properties but you have to be careful to NOT let them get too hot. Let them get medium red, water quench and they're going to be brittle in they don't just break. Metalmangler's 4140 tongs are really outstanding, they're stiff enough they can be light weight and Mark is so fast making tongs he has a wall full, takes less time to make a pair than find one.

 

Mild will work fine but you need to leave more depth in the bolsters and reins so they don't flex too much. Personally I prefer medium carbon and I have a bucket full of car springs.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

I will agree with frosty on the mild steel tongs, I make tongs out of mild steel because that is what i have there for i have learned you need nice and thick boss area and thick jaws so they dont flex and or break.Some of my first tongs i didnt leave enough material in the boss and jaw areas and i have issues with everything bending out of place. 

I never heat my tongs till they glow, I consider it bad practice.  I like the medium carbon tongs as they can be a lot lighter than mild steel or the old wrought iron tongs.

Mild or cold rolled should work fine. Just don't overheat them. Keep them cool. In the water after every heat and they should work as good for you as anything else.

George

My self I use what ever I have 4140, mild steel, wrought iron, spring steel and even re bar. I have heard that lug wrenches are good to use as well just have not have the time to make pair with one yet. I never heat my tongs either I always take them off the piece I am heating. The good thing with mild steel is it is cheep I was reading and had a talk with Grant years ago He used 1045 when he was making tongs.

My go to material for tongs is 1045.  It is what the two steel mills around here spec for most of the tongs I make for them.  It is only slightly more expensive than mild steel while 4140 can be quite a bit more.  I just finished a pair from 4140  They are to hold the 2 studs in the picture welded on to 300 and 400 lb billets.   I had to start with 2" round to get enough mass in the bits.  The smaller tongs are 1045 and are sized for 1.25" round. 

I think it really depends on the kind of work you are doing. I use mild steel tongs for anything under 1" and anything bigger I will use my 4140 tongs. As a couple people have said, it also depends on what size stock you are working with in order to leave plenty of thickness with the mild steel to keep things from getting out of whack. 

-Crazy Ivan

I have a nice pair made from oil well sucker rod. When I looked up what material they made that stuff out of I got:
4130, 4140, 1045, 9260 and maybe W2. Don't know what part of Utah you're in and if it's a oil producing area to boot, but it may be cheap there if it is.

My favorite tongs for hand use tend to be the lightest and springiest so "more mass" in a set slides them toward the not used as much end. (Or for using with a power hammer)   For large work welding on a "handle"  works well.

Sucker rod it is usually in the medium carbon range and you can make a nice light pair with plenty of strength.

I use a lot of 5160 because of the fact I get it for free in a form of coil springs. The only downside is I have to break down the coil into a straight rod which is a bit of a pain. One other downside I have with 5160 is that it is very particular at what temperature you want to forge it at, not to cold and not to hot.. Just my two cents on this.

So what do you guys do when your tongs inevitably heat up too much??

 

By that I don't mean red heat but rather the heat from holding work for a long time. If I don't keep my tongs cool the heat eventually travels up the reins and they will get too hot to handle. 

 

 

 

I use mild for all of my tongs. :P

Keep them cool as you go along!  (If you are driving a car down a long steep hill, do you brake as you go along or let the speed build up till you get to the bottom and then try to deal with it.)

 

Or for propane forges: make Ti tongs, heat doesn't travel down the reins as well and they don't accidentally harden in a quench.

I dunk my tongs after every heat. They never get hotter then maybe 200-400 degrees for a minute or two and the heat never makes it up the reins. Never had a problem with them getting brittle either.

-Crazy Ivan

I am often forging larger stock which you can forge longer on a heat and the with the extra mass I sometimes get a dull red heat on tongs while I am using them.  I try to cool them more often so that does not happen but if it does I try to do a  quick dunk and pull out so the  tongs  still have lots of heat in them but it has taken the red out of them.  I will then full dunk to cool them after 30 seconds or so.  Theoretically as long as they are not to the critical temperature which is above a dull red cooling them in water should not harden them.  

 

I have not had a pair break  that I believe was from cooling them since many years ago when I quenched a pair from a bright red after modifying them.  That can be quite dangerous,  I had a link on them that was probably too tight and when they snapped they caught my fingers between the reins which split the end of my finger. 

I either cool them after each heat or if they need to be warm so as not to rob to much heat from the small stock I will use multiple pair of the same size.

Thanks so much for the info. I'm reasonably new at this and you've all given me quite a bit to work with. Thanks!

Most of my forged tongs are between 15" and 17" long and they are of mild steel with lap welded reins. They have plenty of grip and spring.

 

Industrial tongs are much larger and should be of 4140, high carbon, or medium carbon steel. The reins are drawn out, not welded.