some old tongs

[ausfire]

These appeared on my doorstep today. Neighbour a few miles away cleaning his shed.

I cannot figure what the ones each side of the nippers are. Left one seems to be some sort of wire cutter. Not very efficient by the look of it. They open and close smoothly. The roundish ones on the right are maybe for shaping a round end? Someone said they are farrier's tools.

Anyway, nice that people drop things like this off.

[John McPherson]

Yes, the ones on the right are farriers tongs.  Frequently mistaken for button or bullet molds.  

Sturdy and compact jaw design means they that they can be used for hot or cold shaping without getting in the way of hammer or anvil.

[Mark Ling]

Look up "farrier" tongs and you'll see plenty of pictures.

                                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith

[Frank Turley]

To the left of the farriers' tongs are pull-off pincers for prying off horseshoes.

[ThomasPowers]

can we have a better picture or two of the one to the left of the pincers? Is that writing on it, if so what does it say and what do the bits look like?

[aessinus]

Like outside snap ring pliers?

58 minutes ago, Frank Turley said:

To the left of the farriers' tongs are pull-off pincers for prying off horseshoes.

 

[Frank Turley]

9 minutes ago, aessinus said:

Like outside snap ring pliers?

No. After the nail clinches are cut, the jaws go under the heel of the shoe and the reins are pulled downward toward the toe of the shoe thereby prying and lifting the shoe branch. Then the other side is lifted. If more prying is needed, the pincers are move a little more toward the toe for more lifting.

 

[JHCC]

There was a thread here a while back about why farrier tongs have that dimple in the middle. If I recall correctly, the idea was that having a ring-shaped contact area gives you lots of grip, the ability to easily change the angle of the workpiece relative to the tongs, and little-to-no tendency for the workpiece to pivot inside the jaws (as often happens as a high spot develops in the middle of flat-bit tongs).

[Frank Turley]

57 minutes ago, JHCC said:

There was a thread here a while back about why farrier tongs have that dimple in the middle. If I recall correctly, the idea was that having a ring-shaped contact area gives you lots of grip, the ability to easily change the angle of the workpiece relative to the tongs, and little-to-no tendency for the workpiece to pivot inside the jaws (as often happens as a high spot develops in the middle of flat-bit tongs).

Yes, that's essentially correct. Having used such tongs, they grip and dig in when grabbing a hot shoe and not so much on a relatively cold shoe. The short jaws give clearance for working, whereas a long jaw would get in the way. Smiths' flat jawed tongs often have a lengthwise, centered fullered groove. It also serves for a grip on hot iron as well as a place for holding small rounds and squares.

[ausfire]

Thomas, I'll get a better picture. Yes, there is writing on there where I cleaned it up, but it was illegible.

[ThomasPowers]

I've used the round bits with indentation to hold the ball on ball peen hammers before.  I have 3 or 4 different ones and use the pair that holds the best.

[ausfire]

On ‎30‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 0:47 AM, ThomasPowers said:

can we have a better picture or two of the one to the left of the pincers? Is that writing on it, if so what does it say and what do the bits look like?

Thomas,

OK here are a couple of better pics. I gave the tongs a touch up in the sand blaster. The pic are closed, half open and fully open.

The writing looks like Cressteel or something like that. Maybe you recognise the brand.

[ThomasPowers]

looks more like a fence wire cutter to me

[ausfire]

That's what I first thought. They did come in company with farrier's tools though, so I think Frank may be right. I can't quite understand how the farrier would use them, but I know nothing about farrier work. I'll label them pull-off pincers and hang them up with our farrier's tools.

[George Geist]

Looks like someones attempt at crease nail pullers maybe? If they made them to also cut wire that would be pretty slick

[bondy1s]

G'day aus, the brand is gregsteel gregsteel (an Australian manufacturer) and they are wire cutters.

[arkie]

On 6/29/2017 at 1:00 PM, Frank Turley said:

Yes, that's essentially correct. Having used such tongs, they grip and dig in when grabbing a hot shoe and not so much on a relatively cold shoe. The short jaws give clearance for working, whereas a long jaw would get in the way. Smiths' flat jawed tongs often have a lengthwise, centered fullered groove. It also serves for a grip on hot iron as well as a place for holding small rounds and squares.

I also understand, talking to some oldtime farriers, that the depression and circular rim helps keep the grip should the tongs last long enough to show wear.  The rim would tend to wear down but still maintain good contact across the space of the jaw as opposed to a flat bar-like jaw...dunno.  Those must have been some OLD farriers to have worn down tong jaws.......

[ThomasPowers]

And easy to fix just heat and thwap and the jaws are back aligned...might have been a selling point that has become the defacto standard...