Hi folks, 

I've got the honor to refurbish some wood splitting wedges for a coworker. Due to the fact that the wedges can't be held with ordinary tongs (especially when working on the head) i made a pair of chisel tongs as shown in Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated by J.W. Lillico. Maybe not the most perfect tool i made (could have been forged much cleaner), but they work really really fine! I hope you like it and maybe someone has some helpful critique. 

Very nice. The transition from the boss to the jaw looks a little thin in the bottom photo, so keep an eye on that for bending or cracking.

You did a nice job..  How big are they? It's hard to tell size even with the anvil present..  Nearly all the wood wedges I have are in easily in the 3-6lbs range.. 

JHCC -

Thanks! I agree, the transition looks a bit thin. But i made the tong out of an old drive shaft, so i hope i've got some bonus in strength. 

jlpservicesinc -

The wood splitter is about 2 inches in diameter, so 3-6 lbs suits i think. Didn't weigh them. 

Looks like they'll work well enough for the job.  The ol' timers had tons of oddball tongs for just such types of work and it's always fun to try and decipher what they were used for.

There doesn't seem any good way to hold a wedge, imo.  Part of me wants to make the one jaw a box that better wraps around the taper of the wedge while the opposing jaw is just a finger to push the wedge into the box.  But, you certainly got something that'd work and that's what makes the difference.  

If you have a bunch of them to do, or think there will be more in the future, you can always upgrade the design.  Maybe come up with something truly stellar then put out the word that you'll be happy to reshape wedges for folks.  Don't know how much of a demand there is for such, but....

"There doesn't seem any good way to hold a wedge, imo."

weld a handle to the fat end.