I have two tongs I use which really don't work well for holding a bar being forged into a knife.  I have some ideas of what good ones might look like but was hoping some folks might be willing to post pictures of their favourite tongs they use when forging knives, before I try to make some.

I like box jaw tongs like these.

Hard to hold coil spring in those...my favorite are a short reined set of shoeing tongs, light and set up for 1/4" thick stock.  So for things like coil spring I will hammer down an end and then use them to hold it. 1/4" is a good starting thickness for a tang on most my knives.

For billets I have several pair that will hold a good sized stack and will transfer them as needed during the welding and drawing.

Edited August 25, 201510 yr by ThomasPowers

what do the nibs of shoestring tongs look like?

 

I did a search but this is all that comes up

 

 

 

I think those are sugar cube tongs for putting cubes into Tea Cups!  I believe he said Horse shoeing tongs.

ah! haha!  Good thing I'm not a proof reader. Wow horse shoeing tongs brings up a vast selection of images on google.

Anthony thanks! I've never seen tips like that but they look like they'd hold a bar pretty solidly.

Look for these vids on You Tube ABS YouTube Video - How to Make Tongs for Bladesmithing by Ed Clarke
 

One on the left I won at an iron in the hat, mine ain't nearly so pretty. Holds square well, and round okay. One on the right is for basic flat stuff, one in the middle (one on top) I use a lot. Hard to see, but it's basically the same as the one on the right, a bit longer, with jaws rounded out. Holds round 1/2" to maybe 3/4" well, and so so on squarish. (I used it a ton yesterday making horseshoe hoofpicks).

Look for these vids on You Tube ABS YouTube Video - How to Make Tongs for Bladesmithing by Ed Clarke
 

Thank you Charlotte I will!

One on the left I won at an iron in the hat, mine ain't nearly so pretty. Holds square well, and round okay. One on the right is for basic flat stuff, one in the middle (one on top) I use a lot. Hard to see, but it's basically the same as the one on the right, a bit longer, with jaws rounded out. Holds round 1/2" to maybe 3/4" well, and so so on squarish. (I used it a ton yesterday making horseshoe hoofpicks).

Thanks Nobody Special. That one on the left looks like it would be really useful for various widths and thickness’s, and shapes for that matter.

That far-right one looks just like one of the two that I have. The nibs are long and flat. I probably use it the most but I find it hard to hold the piece secure with it.

 

In particular the one I like best is what I'd call snub nosed instead of the rounded nose ones more generally seen.  Bought it for US$1.50 20 years ago at the South Side Drive-in fleamarket in Columbus OH.  Picked up a nice pair of small light Diamond showing tongs a couple of weekends ago at the Fleamarket in Las Cruces NM, had to pay $5 for them...  (and yes the devil is in the details when web searching---had a friend wanting to find info on jet skis who ended up flooding his computer at work with porn pop-ups because of the search term he innocently used...)

Edited August 25, 201510 yr by ThomasPowers

all above are good. I got a couple of sets from GS a couple of years ago, (picture attached) and they hold flat bar pretty good...never tried coil springs with them. I also have a set of Off Center v-tongs that work good, light weight compared to the GS.

I saw a demo recently where the bladesmith had taken a pair of standard tongs and welded on a section of half-pipe (take a 1-2" long piece of 1/2" pipe or tubing and slit it lengthwise) to the top and bottom jaws. Very quick and easy solution that also appeared to hold well.

Shamus, I use two tongs for most of my knife work. A box jaw like the one Anthony posted, except the jaws on mine are wide enough to accommodate 1-1/2 inch wide stock, and a pair of V-bit offset tongs like the ones Pieh Tool sells. Pieh Tool actually calls these "Knife Maker tongs". The offset in the jaws allows the smith to grab the blade area b the edges and work the tang area. The blade extends through the tongs and sits parallel to the tong reins. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to the Pieh Tool website here.

Shamus, I use two tongs for most of my knife work. A box jaw like the one Anthony posted, except the jaws on mine are wide enough to accommodate 1-1/2 inch wide stock, and a pair of V-bit offset tongs like the ones Pieh Tool sells. Pieh Tool actually calls these "Knife Maker tongs". The offset in the jaws allows the smith to grab the blade area b the edges and work the tang area. The blade extends through the tongs and sits parallel to the tong reins. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to the Pieh Tool website here.

Thank you I found it. Boy those v-bit tongs look like a very nice design. Many of the tongs I've looked at on sites make me think "for that kind of money I'd take a shot at making them". I think it will be a couple hundred simple tongs down the road before I attempt something like those though. These look well worth the $50

That's a great site in general. Thanks for the tip!

Hey general question for the crew, when you make tongs what size stock do you start with?

I use some similar to THESE that I made, though mine are way uglier.

Here are a couple more for your consideration, although these are a little harder to make than box jaw tongs. I picked them up from Centaur Forge today. 

Edited September 5, 201510 yr by Anthony San Miguel

I prefer something that wraps all the way around the bar stock so the stuff doesn't flip out on me.

I recently purchased some rather nice tongs from Quick-n-Dirty Tool Co. While they're listed as 1/2"x1", they hold any 1" stock I've put in them, all the way down to 1/8".  So that's, what, four pairs of tongs in one.  Definitely a very good set of tongs and I love how they wrap around the metal.

For blades that have stick tangs, I find myself reaching for my 1/2" v-bit bolt tongs more often than not.  The tang is usually narrow enough that it fits caddy-corner in the jaws of the tongs and holds quite well.  I haven't found anything really "ideal" for holding on to a tang that isn't parallel-sided.

I really like the design of those offset box jaws.