Howdy folks,

I found these big tongs at an antique shop this week. They are roughly 26-28" long and the jaws are about 3/4" to 1" apart when they are parallel. I'm guessing due to their size these would have been used in an industrial forging situation? They were asking $55 for them, and since I'm still working on getting tools together I have to admit that I thought about it, but ultimately did not buy them. 

Anyone care to share any thoughts on these big tongs? Are these just "kind of large but nothing special" in the grand scheme of things? (Noobie trying to learn here.) Thanks.

 

42 minutes ago, Allen Corneau said:

Are these just "kind of large but nothing special" in the grand scheme of things? 

Pretty much unless you needed them. Chances are, starting out, that you wouldn't. Price is high, again, unless you needed them.

Last year or so I got a large pair of tongs around 3' long that can hold an 8-10# sledgehammer head pretty well for $10. The holding part is sort of post hole digger shaped. Couldn't pass them up at the price. Pics were on my old phone. 

For now save the money for tools you can use more. Those will probably still be at the antique shop when/if you need them.

No those are not large tongs and are still within a small blacksmith's shop use. I often use tongs with a 1" gap when I start out a damascus billet and working all by hand!

Big industrial tongs may be 6' to 10' long and hold a 1' or larger stock

Last pair like that I bought was $12 at the local fleamarket last year.  Antique stores tend to be extremely overpriced---or, rarely, underpriced for items that they don't know much about.

Don't sink a lot of money into tools until you know what you will be using!  Nothing sadder than  to have all your money tied up in tools you never use and not being able to get tools you *NEED*!

That's the truth. When I was starting out, I sunk about thirty-five bucks into a pair of tongs that hold 2" thick material, thinking they'd be useful for making anvil tooling. Guess how many times I've used them? 

 

(Hint: if your answer is greater than zero, it's too high.)

Thanks everyone for giving me some perspective on these tongs. Maybe some day I'll have need for some tongs this big.

 

I stopped at a flea market about ten years ago and bought 5 pair of really large tongs for a deal I couldn't pass up US $10.00. I have used only 1 pair several times with my power hammer, but they look great in the tong rack.