Bolt tongs from bed frames

[JHCC]

Looks good! Glad that they're working out for you.

I still find myself grabbing mine off the rack all the time. I've made plenty of tongs since then, but there's something about that pair that just feels right.

[JHCC]

Update: made a little tweak to the shape of the bows, to allow the reins to close more. Definitely more comfortable in the hand, if rather unusual looking (but then, looks were never the point, were they?).

[Justin Topp]

I’m a few years late to the party but these look great and i might have to Barrow the design. I’m not great with making tongs but i only have a few and i have a ton of rivets i made when i made a rivet header.  Nice job JHCC

[0Dustin0]

When it comes to paint on random things One finds to forge, is it generally a bad idea just to throw them In the forge and let it burn off or should you take the time to grind it off?

[JHCC]

Generally not a great idea, especially if the paint is old enough to contain lead. 

Chemical stripping is a good option. 

[Glenn]

Anything you grind (sandblast) off metal is thrown into the air as dust particles.  These settle an everything and when you walk past or there is a breeze, they become airborne again.

When you remove the coatings chemically etc, you then form a hazardous mixture and solution.  You not have to properly dispose of that and it can sometimes be a real problem.

[pnut]

If it's mystery metal or you don't know what it's painted, plated,or coated with you may be better off taking it to the scrap yard and selling it so you can buy some rusty steel that you know isn't hazardous to heat up. Better safe than sorry. Just my opinion though.

Pnut

[JHCC]

In general, I certainly agree. In this specific case, however, bed rails are almost always a medium to high-carbon steel and almost never plated, so paint removal is really the only question.

11 hours ago, Glenn said:

When you remove the coatings chemically etc, you then form a hazardous mixture and solution.  You not have to properly dispose of that and it can sometimes be a real problem.

Check with your local municipality regarding waste. My town says that once the sludge from chemical stripping has dried, the residue is fine to put in the trash (even, notably, if it contains lead).

[JHCC]

Made another pair, and incorporated some updates to the procedure.

I flattened both pieces before any further work:

I didn't get a photo of the next step, alas, but I marked the notches on one piece, clamped both pieces together side-by-side in the vise, and cut both notches at the same time with an angle grinder. Despite my earlier observation that drilling would be better than hot punching, I was short of time and wasn't able to anneal the parts and drill them, so I went ahead and hot-punched anyway. It actually came out pretty good, especially with a bit of filing of the holes. I bent the jaws, riveted the pieces together, and flattened everything out:

Here is the tooling I used for opening the jaws: a long hot-cut turned sideways in the anvil:

And a narrow fuller held in the post vise:

(Both of these are made from FAIR rail anchors with the short leg brought back to 90 degrees, drawn out, and squared up.)

The jaws were opened up first on the hot-cut (apologies for the flipped photo; blame the forum software):

And then on the fuller:

The jaws were shaped around a section of leaf spring (front):

(And back):

There's a bit of an offset, which keeps the center of the stock in line with the center of the reins:

The finished tongs. I may eventually shorten the reins a bit, but I want to take them for a spin first:

[ThomasPowers]

If you usually work the same size stuff a rein loop near the end would be handy.

[benjhind]

I did it! I made something!

Thanks JHCC for this thread and idea! I thought this was the perfect project for a new person to the craft so I gave it a go. I happened to have a set of bedframes that some ignorant idiot left in a public place and I picked up.

Paint removal was a challenge. I tried wire brush and grinding wheel, which both just smeared it around. My paint stripper was old and thick, and after thinning with methanol did a marginal job. More grinding and wire wheeling and I burnt off what was left.

I didn't fold them quite perfectly, so I cut the poor ends in order to hide it. Curving the jaws was a bit of a challenge without a horn but i worked them around the fuller I ground into my railroad track.

The rivet was made from some rebar that I rounded off to 7/16. I thought I would drill the hole but the steel proved a little too hard for my dull 7/16 bit so I enlarged my 1/8 hole with a punch that I ground out of some tool steel from my scrap bin.

I had to cut out my first rivet and straighten the tongs. I may have made my holes oblong in the process. The second rivet entry well but it was tough to get the tongs moving again. I managed to get vice grips on either rein and get them apart.

They hold the spike securely, but not perfectly in line with the reins. A little more finesse is required, but I'm happy to have my first set of tongs and look forward to forging without burning my hands!!

Thanks again JHCC !

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Mod30
Remove @name tag

[JHCC]

Hooray!  Good for you!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Good looking, the rivet came out nice, much better than the first several I made.

[benjhind]

Thanks folks!! IFCW - you know I showed the good side of the rivet, right?

Sorry to the mods for tagging members - too many forums and too few brain cells on my part.

I used a home made ball peen hammer for the rivet. I ground the shape into a hammer I found on the highway. Here is the other side of the rivet. 

I bet you can't guess that I'm pretty exited haha

[JHCC]

2 hours ago, benjhind said:

I thought I would drill the hole but the steel proved a little too hard for my dull 7/16 bit so I enlarged my 1/8 hole with a punch

The downside to these being high carbon is that if you want to drill them, you need to do a full anneal first. 

[benjhind]

1 minute ago, JHCC said:

The downside to these being high carbon is that if you want to drill them, you need to do a full anneal first. 

My hesitation was mostly just because I didn't have a punch. For this project, I just ground down some tool steel and stretched the hole I was able to drill after couple of broken bits and several sharpenings. In hindsight, I should have just made the punch and done it properly. 

[JHCC]

A properly sized bolster is good for punching thin stock. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I can hot punch a hole a lot faster than getting a drill and setting up the dill press.

[benjhind]

A bolster is certainly on the to-do list! For my first project, my intent was to minimize the number of new techniques I needed to learn and drilling was already on the "known" list. Annealing didn't go well for me on some thinner stock buried in sand so I just tried drilling as is.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

[JHCC]

The key to annealing is a very slow cool-down. Since thinner sections cool faster, it’s harder to get them to cool slowly. The solution is either better insulation (vermiculite, wrapped in kaowool, etc), putting a heavy piece of heated steel in the insulation with the workpiece to keep it warmer longer, or both. Sand isn't a great insulation anyway; wood ashes are a cheap alternative, especially if mixed with powdered lime. 

[benjhind]

I will have loads of wood ash soon,  should be time to cleanthe fire place.  What about just using some fiberglass insulation? Glass melts well above annealing temperatures and I have tons.

[anvil]

18 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

hot punch a hole a lot faster than getting a drill and setting up the dill press.

Me too!

I use lime to anneal. If you use wood ash make sure you take the chunks out. Just use the ash. Chunks make voids that make yer iron,cool too fast at that spot.

[benjhind]

I'm fairly confident that I would have been faster with a brace and bit!

[Frosty]

I've had lime chill steel fast enough to harden it worse. When I can't just leave it in the forge to cool slowly I have an old steel file case of garden store vermiculite. 

Punching holes is fast and easy. 

Frosty The Lucky.