tongs to remove scroll flats

[Joel OF]

Hi folks, just thought I'd share a few pics of some useful tongs I made for removing flats in scrolls. I've made a few pairs of these to varying sizes so between them I'm pretty well covered against unsightly flats that creep in.

I expect these are old hat and I'm reinventing the steel but hey ho. Use and abuse as you see fit.

[stan]

Hi Joel those tongs look good might have to try them , I have made a few classic scroll tongs and have not really been that impressed with them.That`s a large scroll was it made on made on a jig or by hand?

 

[Joel OF]

Jig made by hand/eye/hammer/swearing. Got several of these to do for some fabricator mates, made to their sadistic design.

The inside of the largest scrolls starts off on the middle scroll jig up to a certain point, after that I move onto another jig I made for the outer rings of the scroll. These tongs are really helpful at blending in those little lumps and bumps where one jig ends and the next begins.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Joel OF

[ThomasPowers]

I've always used a bending fork; having ones of different size or adjustable ones deal with differing scroll curves

[L Smith]

an old watch repair method of repair/ straitening hair springs or coils was start in the center and work outwards.

[Joel OF]

My success rate with bending forks isn't great & scrolling isn't really my favourite job (though I'm getting better at it) so anything that makes my life easier is a plus. I like the tongs for their simplicity as they have a predetermined shape. Use them the "right way" round to close up flats or the "wrong way" round to open up curves that are too tight. You don't need to hold the scroll either, you can just lay it on the ground.

My first pair of these were actually some small tongs I made to hold bowls without marking the edges (as flat tongs do) & I grabbed them in a hurry to close up a small flat spot on a scroll, they did the job well so I made more of varying sizes.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Joel OF