Lots of folks use scrolling tongs to tweak scrolls, curl flower petals, etc, etc. Most people seem to favor the straight-nosed variety, whether purpose-made, reground from needle-nosed pliers, or reforged from tinsnips. 

However, I've also seen scrolling tongs with the nose bent 90 degrees, such as the ones Junior Strasil used in his BP0145 - Shelf bracket blueprint. These seem like they'd have a lot more leverage and wouldn't put so much torque on the tongs' joint. 

Any thoughts on why one or the other is preferable?

 

Why not one of each?

Small tight curls on small stock seem to be easier for me with straights, big beefy curls on heavy stock do better with bent.  Why would one want only 1 type?

Solid geometry. The "bent nose" tongs will have a constant parallel jaw closure from bend to tip. Straight scrolling tongs do not have that feature.

1 minute ago, Frank Turley said:

Solid geometry. The "bent nose" tongs will have a constant parallel jaw closure from bend to tip. Straight scrolling tongs do not have that feature.

Yes, that's particularly appealing. 

JHCC,

I've been meaning to make a heavy pair of bent nose ones for holding wrapped tomahawks / axes by the eye.  The parallel jaw closure is a welcome feature in that application.  The "knee" style tongs I've seen wouldn't be as handy for scroll work. 

It would also be helpful to have the tong handles in line with the stock when welding in an axe bit. 

Got some sample tongs out. The rule is 12", zero centering.

Right to left: hefty scrolling tongs made and gifted to me by Ric Moorhouse of Nevada City, CA; bent flat jawed, followed me home; homemade straight scroll tongs out of coil spring; bent jaw veed for getting around obstructions; bill tongs or wagon tire tongs for holding flat stock from the side. These latter are bent on the flat, not on edge, so they must be sized to fit one thickness.

It seems like for doing smaller curly Q's (like on the end of a coat hook) that it would obviously be easier to use the straight jaw ones, but for larger scrolls the bent nose ones. They both have their advantages, and like Scoot said, Why not both?

                                                                                                                                         Littleblacksmith

Just went and read the comments again, and realized that I pretty much repeated what Thomas said. Sorry, didn't mean to do that on purpose.

Not a problem; sometimes dogpiling just emphasizes which opinions are held by a lot of people...shoot even I will do a "what he said" at times to add more weight to a post I think is good from time to time.

3 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Not a problem; sometimes dogpiling just emphasizes which opinions are held by a lot of people...shoot even I will do a "what he said" at times to add more weight to a post I think is good from time to time.

What he said. 

Let's look at bpo145 again. The bent nose is levering the hot scroll around the jig or scroll form. One jaw is inside the form and the other jaw is outside the workpiece and form. Sometimes you don't need the tongs. You simply bend the hot piece around the form and it maintains the correct shape. But sometimes there will be an uneven heat or whatever making a gap between tool and work. That's when you suck it tight to the form using the tongs.

[The photo is better than the caption.]