The reins on some are over 8 ft long. 

Hmm...maybe we should refer newbies to this page when they want to make tongs as their first project?

 

Those are cool and I would think they would be pretty rare considering the size of stock they were for.

Naw, those are for working big stock under BIG hammers a crane would support the work at a balance point but the smith has to have enough leverage to control it so you have big honking tongs.

You can see them in use in some of the old factory blacksmith videos. 

I think everybody who teaches should have a pair or two to hand the cocky new kid. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I've always wanted to make a pair that opens when you squeeze the reigns for that purpose.

Tongs you could use as the anvil! 

Now THAT would be a cool anvil! 

Hopefully  someone is going to save these

These are awesome, think about how many pairs of tongs you could make from those tongs

TONGCEPTION!

18 minutes ago, Scrambler82 said:

I would like to have seen those at work.

Not quite the same, but these guys videos (they have several) they use some cool shapes of large tongs

 

Did I miss something? I never saw what happened to the slug when they punched the hole. I've seen a few for theses videos and I'm always curious what the anvil is for that hammer, how far it goes into the ground. 

Well, if the slug was directly under the boss when the plug fell out, I think I have an idea...

5 minutes ago, C-1ToolSteel said:

Well, if the slug was directly under the boss when the plug fell out, I think I have an idea...

After another watch I briefly saw it. I guess the slugs are what they use for blocks on top of their other drifts in subsequent forgings. 

I was only making fun of your use of "slug" instead of "plug".

Ah, you say pototato and I say slug.