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And now I feel lost.

I have some scrap, and I bought a bunch of 1018 and 4140 for projects, but I can't use it yet. I only have flat jaw tongs, and I can't pick up the pieces of 4140 I got to make hardy tools. I bought a couple farrier nips to hammer down the jaws and make some 1 inch stock tongs, but when I heated up the jaws of the nips to hammer it out, the end of the handles were a bit hot to the touch. UPDATE: We got one bent out really well, but the other end we tried working too cold and it cracked. To the scrap pile!

My buddy and I spent probably 6 hours out there today and have almost nothing but burns to show for it. We definitely need to build a hood/chimney.

Yeah, this is a real challenge without good tongs. All of the tongs we have don't line up great, and are flat jaws, so working with anything that isn't a flat bar is near impossible. I guess the first major project is tongs. I'm finding it's difficult to heat longer pieces where I need it. I've got a pretty deep firepot and I'm having trouble controlling the height of the hotspot. How do I raise the hotspot, so I can heat the middle of longer pieces?

Thanks guys. I feel like every time I go another person's shop, I know what I'm working on, and I have all the tools to do it, but I feel a bit like I'm drowning in my own shop. I have 300 projects to work on, and the tools to do none of them well.

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I've got square hammer blanks and hardy blanks, and hex tong blanks. I can't hold either, or any of the scrap I've got. I'm stuck trying to hold it with flat tongs, but it slips almost every time I hit what ever I'm working on. And I can't make any of the hardy tools I've got blanks for, to make hot cuts, to cut the scrap I got down to size.

I guess I'll just have to buy a set of tongs to make tongs with, and figure the rest out from there.

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Do you have a HF nearby? if you look at my recent post I bought some hose pliers that are easily modified using only a leather glove to handle. With a little tweaking they may work for you. I bought them to use as tongs until I am confident enough to make my own. They arent perfect but they sure do work for the time being.

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My tong blanks are are 18 inches, and I think I can work the ends without too much trouble, but doing any work on the middle of the piece and I'll need tongs to handle them.

I'll check out Brian's videos.

I don't know how to weld, never done it before. I'd be interested in learning, but maybe one thing at a time.

I'm using anthracite. I'm used to charcoal at other forges, and this is definitely different.

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more air if you have a deep firepot; but that uses more fuel too.  Did you make slits in the sides so you can push long pieces through the hot spot?  If not why not? Also make a "convenience bend" in your stock to get the needed area so it will go down to the hot spot and then straighten as needed.

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I built a brick forge, and didn't consider slits in the sides. I think, after talking it over, my problem might be that I didn't have enough coal piled on. I'll work with it over the next few days and see if I can't get it to move up a bit.

Also, there's an annual "Pioneer Power Swap Meet" next weekend a couple towns over. I'm really excited and hoping to pick up some nice tongs and hammers. We'll see how it goes.

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