Donal Harris Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I picked up most of my tongs from someone who wanted to see his father-in-law’s tools and equipment go to someone who would use them and was not just wanting to get stuff cheap and then sell it for a profit. The surface of the tongs has always seemed different than what you normally see on rusty tools, so I took the end of the reins on one of the sets that needs the rivet replaced to see how it sparked. It sparked a lot like my post vise, horn of my anvil, and old wagon tyres that I know to be wrought iron, so I cut the tip half way through and bent it. It split and didn’t break. I assume it is wrought iron? If so, almost all the tongs I bought are wrought iron. When would tongs have no longer been made from wrought iron? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 That's wrought iron for sure. When were they no longer made from wrought? Who knows. Some folks still make them from WI. If they are in good shape I would keep them for history's sake or just use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donal Harris Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Isn’t the only commercial source of WI just salvaged old stuff? Why would someone want to use something special to make tongs today when just normal steel scrap will do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 If you have to repair them, remember WI works at a higher heat than steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Why do people repair and restore old cars when the new ones are better? Some folks are just into the historicity of the craft and like to replicate stuff the way it once was made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 19 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: historicity I YahooFued the word and the definition is about an 8 minute lecture! The term has so many subjective meanings as to be like asking, "what kind of car is best?" It has it's own historilogy but you have to chart the historiography to get a handle on the vagaries. Thanks Thomas, my head is really spinning which helps keep me stable. If I get so lost in the meaning of a word I lose track of the sentence I have to wonder what it's real purpose is. It certainly is NOT to communicate clearly. Heck I had to go back and read the thread again to find out what we were talking about. Why restore old tools? It makes a person learn new things even if they're from the past. Forging WI is a whole different critter than steel. Old stuff is good, forget about it and you have to repeat it to get past where you are. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I think their point was: why make new tools out of WI when MS is easier and more plentiful. One answer might be "Because it's there!" I certainly feel I'm closer to earlier smiths working the materials they used and the tools they used. Though rocks are a bit of a stretch---save for anvils. Frosty; I've had issues with aphasia since my concussions; scares the clinker out of me as words have been my friends for a long long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I wasn't really wondering or commenting on why folks would want to use: tools, materials and techniques from any point in history, I blacksmith and knap stone among other . . . interesting skills. I collect skills just because. I was needling you, I expect precise use of language from you, especially in puntests. Not that this was a pun thread but good puns require a good vocabulary. Had almost anybody else used historicity I would've written it off as another person fix-tagging. (A word I came up with to describe the habit of adding unnecessary prefixes and sufixes thinking it makes them sound intellectual. "Ate" being one of the most overused stupid fixtags. Conversate, orientate, etc.) Seeing as YOU used the word I had to look it up and see what I was missing; see if context was enough to add the word to my vocabulary. Turns out to be a word that deserves it's own chapter in the dictionary. You are personally responsible for opening new circulatory paths in my brain, I had to stop sipping iced tea! I didn't mean to worry you, aphasia and I are old friends, I wouldn't trip that trigger in someone I didn't like. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Let's not get hagiographic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I don't think I'll sanctify that with a reply. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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