box jaw tongs

[MarkDobson]

So after a year and a half of working over 90 hours a week i finally managed to drop down to one job( only 56 hours a week now LOL) and can finally get to some long over due blacksmithing projects!  But as i found out, sometimes before you can start a project you have to make the proper tooling. Now sure i could have fumbled around with my wolf jaw tongs trying to hold flat bar but lets be honest, dropping hot steel every 30 seconds really isnt much fun so i bit the bullet and decided to take on something that i have always struggles with. TONGS! Box jaw tongs at that

Now seeing how i have only made 1 set of tongs that actually worked i figured this project would end up in the same place as all my other attempts at making tongs, the scrap bin. But i figured why not give it ago and out popped the old coil springs from my truck and away i went. id like to say these actually turned out fairly decent since they didnt break and the work pretty darn good. i could stand to do some more refining on the jaws tho. BTW that isnt a crack in the flat jaw of the tongs its just where i hot cut it and never cleaned it up with the file.

The flat bar is being turned into hooks for a coat rack/shelf im building as a Christmas gift for my aunt

[Anachronist58]

So, since the deployment of your new tongs, have you continued to drop stock??

Robert Taylor

[MarkDobson]

nope, they work great! only problem (if you want to call it that) is that the flat jaw is a little thick so it makes it a little bit harder to get the stock out of the fire

[Anachronist58]

Then you have achieved your goal, less a bit of tuning, so, Well Done!

I would, were they mine, just file or grind a chisel bevel on that flat jaw.