Hey it’s been 3 days since I turned on my first forge, read several books but have no practice, made 3 sets of tongs horrible but they work... will read more and try to forge something better 

 

cheers 

 

We all gotta start somewhere!

I've made worse.

Frosty The Lucky.

Practice makes closer to perfect.

How do they work? Better than anything I have pounded out do far.

Ironpp It's good you're getting out there and doing something. I have no hands on teaching. Mostly what I've learned is from here on IFI and from select videos and some book learning. But it doesn't really kick in until ýou do it with your own hands. And you might figure out some things that you didn't read or see first. Enjoy it and nice tongs.

Edited June 24, 20197 yr by Mod30
Corrected an error.

Save your first tongs.  I've still got mine.  Keep making your tongs, practicing the technique, and when you look back on the first one, you'll be surprised at how much skill you have developed.

thanks , I’ll keep posting. 

My first ones were...ugly.  You're not doing too bad.  Keep practicing. They'll get there.

I haven't made any tongs. Just modified some. You're ahead of me

If you can get your hands on some farrier's nippers/clippers, they can become some great tongs.  Just don't be quenching them in water if you get them really hot.

Hoof nippers are easy to find around here. Usually cheap too. But I notice if they have a tag that reads " Blacksmith Tongs", they want to charge a little more for them

A couple of thoughts:

A.  If it's ugly but works it's not ugly.

B.  Mr. Vicegrip is your friend.

C.  There is an Islamic legend that Allah gave the first black smith the first pair of tongs because you need a pair of tongs to make a pair of tongs.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Those look just like twist tongs are supposed to look. You can tweak the reins a little if they're not comfortable to use or make a c shaped ring to help hold the reins together so you don't have to squeeze as tight. Make sure the bits fit the stock you are working. Heat up the bits grab the stock and shape them to the stock with the hammer.

Pnut

Good on you for getting in and giving it a go! They don't have to be pretty to be useful, workable tongs. As stated above, keep those tongs to compare with what you will make in the future. And keep us posted as your skills develop.

Thanks for te great responses... and by the way.... the statement is true... you need one pair of Tongs to make one good pair of tongs 

Actually NO!  Just use long enough stock that you don't need tongs to hold it while working it.

I'm no hand at making tongs but I never use a pair to make a pair, unless you count slipping the rivet in if they're still too hot to touch. Metalmangler makes tongs too fast to follow what he's doing and he doesn't use tongs making them. He slows down considerably when he's doing a demo or holding a tong class. 

If you draw out the reins first you can hold them while you forge the bolster and bits. hmmm?

I try to never use tongs if I can get around it, they just add another level of separation between you and the work. 

Frosty The Lucky.

So you hold the work with your hands????????????

DUH! What else are you going to hold it with, your mouth? If you have 18-24" between your hand and the hot glowy part it won't get too hot to hold. That's why I keep water near the forge so I can cool the part I'm holding when it starts to get warm. 

When you make tongs by drawing the reins first to hold they can end up a little long so you need to trim them. Unless you drew the reins REALLY long and left a thick section on the far end so you could forge the other half of the tongs! 

Forge tongs with hammer, anvil, chisel and punch. A rivet header is really nice but you can do without.

Always remember the ancient blacksmith saying I made up some time ago, "Carpe Terminus Frigis."

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I've watched some guys make tongs (on Youtube) without tongs the way you are describing.  Pretty cool to watch.  I've so much to learn Frosty.  At least I know/admit it.

We all do Chris, the more you learn about the craft the more you realize you don't know. It's a never ending learning curve that just keeps growing.

The wise recognize their ignorance.

Frosty The Lucky.

You mean I might qualify as a "wise old owl"..............or just old?