fire tongs

[MarkDobson]

so this is my first attempt at trying to make a set of fire tongs, they are a christmas present for my dad. figured since we cant find 36inch tongs anywhere id try and make some. i started with 6 pieces of 1/2" 1045 about 12in long and welded them together with an arc welder. then forged, took me way longer than it should have and they still arnt perfect. hopefully i will make a jig for the next set i make haha. i still have to wire brush and finish them

ignore the black water in the bucket a bunch of leaves got in it and i didnt get a chance to change the water

[Frosty]

Not bad though I think the hinges should be a lot closer to the handles. You'd have to open your hands pretty darned wide to pick up much of a piece of wood, say 4" across.

Your Dad will love them.

Frosty The Lucky.

[MarkDobson]

11 hours ago, Frosty said:

Not bad though I think the hinges should be a lot closer to the handles. You'd have to open your hands pretty darned wide to pick up much of a piece of wood, say 4" across.

Your Dad will love them.

Frosty The Lucky.

i hope he does, and your definitely right about the rivet being to close to the jaws, im thinking the next set i make i will rivet them just about in the middle

[Frosty]

What I've done to get hinge points right, or close, is model them with popcicle sticks, welding rod or small branches if drawing it out didn't do it for me. Sometimes you just have to be able to hold and move it to get the feel.

He'll love them, no parent in the history of parents didn't love something made by their kid. Yeah, I know there are sperm doners and brooders who don't but they're not really parents.

Anyway, they'll be a hit and I bet if you make a pair that work better these are the ones he'll want to keep by the stove, fireplace, etc. Betcha.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Alan Evans]

I think the leverage advantage depends on the size of your fuel and of your fire.

I put the tong joint closer to the handles (proportionately) but for single handed tongs intended for smaller fire grates and maybe handling small lumps of coal rather than large  logs. If you have a large open hearth, fire dogs and big lumps of tree, you need them proportioned much as you have made these, in order to keep you a bit further away from the heat and to give you the leverage  to lift and manipulate the log.

The only change I would make would be to the jaws. I found that putting a point on one side and a Vee (two points) on the other, meant that the log or coal was gripped well and would not spin around when you did not want it to.

Alan

[MarkDobson]

whats funny is i actually thought about doing that but when i started i went and modeled my jaws after a set of tongs we had laying around and completely forgot about making the spikes until after i gave them a test run and realized that it would really help holding onto the logs if i would've put points on them.

[Frosty]

Good points Alan. Bits like you describe grip like a tripod will set on all three legs no matter what the surface. Points are good for grabbing things too so you don't need a death grip to lift and move a log, coal, etc.

Frosty The Lucky.