First Set of Tongs

[tmarkley94]

I recently started blacksmithing and have mostly finished my first set of tongs. It took three attempts to get where I am on this set. I'm still refining some details such as adding grooves for grip in the jaws, rounding corners on the reigns, and adjusting the pitch of the reigns. Lastly I'll need to quinch and heat treat.

[ThomasPowers]

What alloy are they made from?  I usually just normalize the ones I've made; except for the Titanium ones.

[Frosty]

Quenching is just part of one type of heat treatment so saying "quench AND heat treat" is like saying "fry and cook." You're not making a knife, I don't know of anybody using hardened tongs. 

I just throw them on the floor to cool when I'm finished and I prefer coil spring for stock. I don't even normalize them and coil spring can be hardened. 

If you're concerned normalize them and they're good to go. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

They look pretty good for a first pair. If they were mine, I would forge the reigns octagon or round because the sharp edges of square reigns are uncomfortable to use.

[tmarkley94]

ThomasPowers - They are made from 1/2" by 1" steel bar from Tractor Supply. I'm not sure of any specifics other than that. Thanks for the tip on "normalizing." How do you go about that process?

Frosty - I do have a few coil springs laying around our shop so that might be a go-to for some of my future projects. Thanks for the correction on my verbiage!

Irondragon - I'm going to make the reigns octagonal. Yesterday, I used a large punch to put some channels on the jaws in a # configuration. I'll be back soon to finish the rest. Being that these are made of 1/2" by 1" the reigns are very large so they definitely need to be slimmed. After that I'll adjust the gap when they are closed.

I greatly appreciate the feedback, folks!

[Frazer]

Save yourself some money and find a steel supply near you. Raw stock from Lowes, Home Depot, TSC, etc is grossly overpriced. I'm not sure what you paid at TSC for that bar, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same price -- or nearly the same price -- as 20' from a local supplier.

Oh, and nice tongs! I agree with all of the statements above.

[Goods]

I would also recommend starting with mild steel for tongs. Jumping straight into forge tongs with spring steel adds a bit more difficulty. Spring steel is harder to move and you have to be more careful with heat control. (It will burn at lower temperature, then start cracking on you...)

Looks good for your first set.

David

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, tmarkley94 said:

1/2" by 1" steel bar from Tractor Supply

TSC's flat bar, is ASTM standard A36, which is a mild structural steel that isn't generally hardenable anyway. In short, just fine for tongs, but at $24/99 (almost $5/pound) waaaaaaay too expensive. Try going to somewhere like Standard Iron or Georgia Iron Works in Thomson and see if they sell "drops", which are offcuts from larger pieces that would otherwise get scrapped. My local steel place just bumped their price on drops up to $1/pound, but that's still cheaper than the big box places.

Good looking tongs, and definitely better than my first pair. The sharp edges on the reins are going to be hard on your hands, though. It might be worth your time to cut the rivet and draw the reins down to about 3/8" round. They'll balance better, and your hands will thank you.

Keep up the good work!

[ThomasPowers]

A good start would be to search using your browser:   normalizing site:iforgeiron.com  Using Google Chrome this gives me over 1000 site specific hits.  I think this search method is covered in "Read This First".

[tmarkley94]

Frazer- Yeah I have been finding that out after a few trips. It's stupid expensive. Thanks for the compliment.

JHCC- Thanks for the info! I'm still learning basics about metals so that's helpful. I'll check Georgia Iron Works like you're recommending. I'm Planning on rounding some edges on the tongs this week without separating them.

ThomasPowers- Will do!